Because I don’t, and pretending to feels dishonest. I’ll listen if they want to talk about it, but I’m not going to act interested, and I certainly won’t ask about it on my own. What I’m trying to figure out is whether people actually care, or if they’re just playing a social game that I’m simply not interested in.
I’m probably on the autistic spectrum, which likely explains this to some extent. But that’s not an excuse - being an asshole is perfectly compatible with autism, so before dunking on me, please realise I probably agree with your criticism.
I don’t get all wrapped up in imagining sharing the experience or anything like that, but it’s always nice to get a factual update about the other person. And if they have something interesting to say about whatever it is, that’s good too.
As i got older, I cared more. I uses to listen politely, then I started to look forward to hearing about my friends and family lives. Now I’m one of those guys who calls to ask for updates. 😆
Yes I do care. The reason i care is because it makes me happy for them as a friend that they’re going through or went through an event that brought them joy or enriched their lives somehow.
If it’s a coworker then I’m usually doing it to be nice, but also because if you’re spending a considerable amount of time with your coworkers each day, you’ll probably have a more enjoyable work culture if you get to know your coworkers.
I don’t always care about the specific thing very much, but I have learned to recognize when someone wants to share their life experience. And they’ve chosen to share their life experience with me. It takes a bit of extra effort, in an “Okay, what about any of this interests me, so I can ask questions from that perspective,” but I’ll always try to find something to say that makes the other person feel appreciated for sharing. Because it’s probably not that they want me to “see what they’ve done” and more that they want to engage on a personal level with another human being.
It’s a lot easier for me to support that engagement when I look at the interaction through that lens. I don’t always get opportunities to engage like that with other people, and it’s probably healthy for me to accept those opportunities when they come.
I care. Some people care more than others. That’s fine.
How good of a friend are we talking? I care about my roommate’s new nephew. I know his sister, and we’ve played D&D with his brother-in-law. The baby is, like, a relevant part of being friends with them. Similarly, if he went on vacation I’d want to hear about how it went, especially if anything interesting happened.
On the other hand some of my coworkers at my last job liked to talk about this kind of stuff, and I didn’t really care, but it was nice to have something to talk about while I was setting up a new printer for them, or whatever.
I don’t feel like it makes much difference whether the person is close to me or not. It’s not that I don’t care about what happens to these people, but a huge part of the topics people generally small talk about are the kinds of mundane things I have almost zero interest in discussing. For example, if something interesting happened to you over the weekend, I assume you’re just going to tell me about it - I would. But I sometimes feel like people expect me to ask about those things, and when I see others do it, I’m often a bit skeptical about whether they’re actually interested or just going through the motions. Thus this thread.
If creating new life and welcoming a new person into your world is “mundane”, or exploring new corners of this tiny world that we are confined to is not interesting to you, then you really gotta tell me about the mind-blowing stuff you’re doing every day that takes precedence.
Asking questions is how most people show interest. That doesn’t mean it’s disingenuous. Conversations are not events where people take turns talking at each other, they’re back-and-forths.
On the flip side, have you thought about how disingenuous it can seem when someone says nothing while you talk, and then immediately afterward starts talking about themselves and their life at length? Most people don’t just automatically update everyone around them on everything in their lives, that’s why people ask questions and show interest.
I care that they care. I’m happy that they’re happy. I’m pleased that they took the time to share with me, if even indirectly.
I just use the golden rule: treat others the way you want to be treated. I’m autistic, diagnosed in 2016. One thing I’ve noticed when hanging out with other autistics: they all want to talk about their special interest, and will go on for hours unhindered, but you can try to make conversation about something they don’t care about for 5 minutes and they don’t even pay attention. I’m definitely guilty of this, to a degree. I think that’s part of having autism. But the next time someone is telling you about something and you find you don’t care, consider what it would feel like if you were discussing your special interest with someone and they just acted disinterested the whole time. Doesn’t feel good, does it?
It’s important to realize that in conversations, most people don’t care about topics, they care about the person to whom they’re speaking. When you speak to someone, you’re signing up to have a conversation with them, not necessarily about something. For example, my fiancee is really into musical theatre, and I’m not. I don’t understand any of the terminology, or what even goes into a stage show. But I love her, and if she wants to talk about it, you bet your ass I’m sitting and asking questions because I know I’m going to end up telling her about Black Ops II Zombies lore for like 2 hours straight later. It’s not necessarily transactional, it just would be a terrible relationship if I only talked to her about my interests.
There is no social game. Well, probably to some psychopaths somewhere there is. But people ask you questions about things in your life because that is one of the ways people show interest in others. It’s nothing to do with gaming the social system - they are interested in talking to you, so they give you opportunities to talk about yourself, your interests, and what you’ve been doing. Sure, they probably don’t “care” about what they’re asking about the same way you do, but they’re not asking out of some cold, machine like formula that lets them climb up the social ladder - it’s just how being social works.
I’ll leave you with this thought: being able to listen to and understand the feelings of someone else in a situation you have no attachment to is empathy. Studies on empathy have shown that it is a skill that can be improved, not a static thing that’s rationed out to you in a certain amount at birth. One good way to work on empathy is to imagine yourself as the other person. So, the next time someone’s telling you about something you don’t care about, you could imagine being in their shoes. You may realize that they have something worth caring about after all, and though you may not care as much as they do, you may appreciate what they have to say just a bit more.
EDIT: I’ve seen the double empathy problem elsewhere in this thread. I would like to point out that empathy is literally all about trying to understand someone in spite of what differences you have. So don’t read that and assume there can’t be allistic-autistic empathy. Read that and acknowledge that it’s harder to empathize with allistics, and try to learn how anyway because that is empathy. Or don’t, idk. I’ve found the double empathy problem to be true in my life, and I’ve also found that building empathy toward allistics and all the things I don’t understand about them has done me a world of good and made it easier for them to empathize with me.
I’ll listen if they want to talk about it, but I’m not going to act interested
Yikes
Indeed. OP basically outing themselves as a self centered narcissist.
Yeah.
I can’t be bothered to even pretend to care about the lives of people I claim to care about
Not true. If you go through life being expected to act a certain way all the time that eventually takes a toll. OP is doing right by himself the same way everyone else does when they share things expecting they’ll get a narrow and specific reaction from people. If you want to throw around the n word that’s as good a place as any.
That’s a lot of words to rationalize total disinterest in the lives of people OP claims are their friends.
It’s an explanation, those use words.
It’s a hamfisted rationalization. Not an explanation.
Would you care to explain how friendship can exist between two people, if one of the parties has absolutely zero interest in the other?
That’s not friendship.
Not really I’m more just presenting an alternate explanation. Don’t mistake me for holding strongly to this opinion, but I do feel like calling OP out as a narcissist or whatever is an unfair snap judgment. People can be different and that doesn’t make them bad most of the time.
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I, for one, absolutely LOVE it when people talk about things that excite them. I ask questions because I want to see them get even more excited or passionate. I would honestly be hurt by someone like the OP, only pretending to be interested, because then with no follow up questions or anything, I would assume the conversation is going nowhere and would probably stop even trying to interact with them.
I specifically wont pretend to be interested. You’ll notice that I’m not - that’s why I wont ask in the first place.
I think I’m a bit like you since I do that too. Everyone (even at work) knows that I don’t want to see baby pictures and I’m not excited about a baby. I don’t think much about having kids but parents usually really really love their kids immediately, even before they are born, and if they are close friend or family then I am ok vibing with that for their sake.
The only time I’ve actually felt positively about it is when my best friend told me they were having a baby. It took me a moment but I thought then felt that I was able to be happy because he was happy and his partner (who I also like) is happy, and then it took me a few days of thinking about it that part of me was also picking up on this excitement because I wonder what my best friends kid will be like. And it’s only because I care about him and his life a lot. I’m not close to my sister and have never felt those feelings before about babies/parents.
Autistic and I don’t care, but I do listen and I try to do it well.
I used to not care.
Now after a few years in a men’s group, I actually care.
I’m a lot happier and mentally healthy than I was before too.
That’s what I found. I thought people were faking because I was cynical. Then I met healthy people and realized it’s actually ok to care and I was choosing not to care instead of choosing to care. Do I care all the time, absolutely not. But I’m getting better. I find I enjoy listening to people who are healthy have these conversations while looking at them without the cynicism.
I started to realize the small talk that a lot of people online complain about is a choice.
Honestly this is how I met my wife.
I used to get all preachy about how stupid Star Signs were and how dumb it was to watch heroine movies. But then, I was just tired of feeling so angry. I just started listening and approaching them from an understanding perspective.
My wife told me that was the only person who ever made her feel heard. and I’m also a lot happier!
Somebody I care about has had an incredible event or experience in their life. Of course I care and want to hear about it.
For some stuff I don’t care, some other makes me jealous and some other is actually cool to discover/learn (think of some new place to have lunch/dinner or some hobby you didn’t know about your friend).
But in general I am with you, and I also feel like most people liking and commenting are playing the social game.
I am not very active in social networks, though…
I care, usually not very much, but somewhere above zero. It’s good that they actually have something to talk about which therefore gives us something to talk about. Holidays overseas are a bit easier than kids because there’s some relatability there but whatever they’re talking about it’s usually more the person talking about it that’s interesting more than the thing. You’re already friends, so you already enjoy their insights or way of talking about things and you’ve probably been there for a fair few of their important life events so it’s nice to hear about the latest ones and how that’s shaping then today as others shaped them before.
Because I don’t have kids and wasn’t on their vacation for me there is a natural limit imposed on just how interesting it can be hence saying I don’t exactly care a whole lot, but it’s usually at least enough to make sharing a beer more satisfying.
