Comfortable silence: Survey shows 70% of Americans would rather sit quietly than make small talk
In Pulp Fiction, Uma Thurman lamented the “uncomfortable silences” between conversations, but a new survey shows Americans are just fine with them.
According to language app Preply’s poll of 1,004 people, seven in 10 would rather sit in silence than make small talk with people they don’t know.
Two in three people admitted they stare into their cellphone rather than try to break the ice, with nearly 90% of Gen- Zers copping to doing so. By comparison, just 30% of boomers do that.
That said, 62% of those surveyed say they strike up conversations with strangers at retail stores; 51% say they do so at grocery stores — the same percentage who make small talk with those they don’t know at work. Forty-six percent of those polled say they participate in idle chatter with their family.
Far more, 69%, say they’d rather make small talk with friends.
Half of the respondents say they’re inclined to make small talk just to be polite, however, they said there are dreaded topics they hate for strangers to bring up.
First on the cringe list is sports, followed by current events and their jobs.
Specifically, “Are you a [local sports team] fan?” takes the cake as respondents’ lamest icebreaker, followed by “What do you do for work?” and “Are you married?”
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