Who has social anxiety and can't do small talk

Post Reply New Topic

I hate meeting people as I feel I have nothing to say.

Me

(Mr Slice holds up his hand and then sneaks back into his little corner)



VS

I'm terrible at 'small talk'.

I usually end up saying something like "nice weather we've been having", from lack of anything else to say,
and when I sit in a room filled with a large amount of people talking, I start to wonder after a while how they can still have anything left to say..?! o_o

Same goes for me...

This.

I never know what people talk about at large parties/receptions because I'm usually not close enough to anyone to pick up on any one particular conversation. I can't filter out background noise either so being in the room is almost like listening to a loud chorus of cicadas. People are too freaking loud for me when they talk all at once.

What makes me bad at small talk is that I have extreme difficulty putting together the details of what people say into a overall coherent picture, and because of this I usually miss the intended context. Consequently this makes me very anxious/nervous when talking/listening, and if that wasn't enough, not being able to fluently gauge interest, or read nonverbal cues makes the whole ordeal a giant mess. I'm clumsy while initiating and ending conversations as well (how do I start, when do I stop, how do I stop, ect). Communicating face to face isn't intuitive at all for me. Phone calls are easier, and text is even better; however, even with text I still have difficulty assembling the details into an overall picture.

::edit::
Come to think of it, this is probably my biggest overall problem when it comes to comunication, however, a lot of my anxiety does stem from it. Small talk, other talk, im bad at all of it lol.

Me.

I can do small talk with one person, but definitely not in groups. Even with one person I usually can't keep it going for more than 20 minutes.

i hate meeting new people

I'm not terrible at it in a superficial way, even if I do seem a bit anxious and awkward, but I can't get the subtleties. I don't know if someone wants to change topics or is uninterested, I don't know what might interest them, and I don't know what to say.

I can see other people having an interaction where what they're saying doesn't really matter, because it's just an excuse to connect and laugh together, but how to do that completely escapes me.

I have trouble making small talk with new people. Once I've known someone for a while and I know we have an interest in common, I can talk about that. But new conversations, new people... can't do. I get stuck after "hi, how are you?"

I hate small talk because it's so awkward for me, and I'm afraid that the person whom I'm talking to might think I'm weird or boring or something. I prefer deep conversations.

It's not only completely difficult, it's mentally and emotionally draining.

I can't do small talk either, although it has nothing to do with social anxiety.

I don't have social anxiety, but I absolutely hate small talk. It irritates me.