Do you just shut up and mind your own business? Do you try to throw in a hot take or two?
For me, it’s sports. I never cared to watch games on tv and probably never will, it’s just not my cup of tea and I’d rather fill my time with other hobbies. It’s a constant topic around me though, and I feel kind of awkward when I’m sitting at a table with people discussing their fantasy leagues or the game last night when I’ve got absolutely nothing to contribute. Awkward.
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In my opinion there is a few ways you can deal with this situation. If you’re tired and don’t feel like “directing the conversation” you can just smile and nod to show you’re engaged without actually having to talk.
If you’re feeling a bit more adventurous you can mention something extremely closely related to the topic they are talking about, and then slowly steer the conversation to something completely different from there.
But the easiest way is probably to just add a commentary here and there whenever you agree with something. People love it when others validate their opinions so whenever you feel like you have nothing to say you can always echo/repeat their point of view.
I’ve been sort of dealing with that my whole life and the things that actually worked the best for me is: make those interested in the topic show you how cool that is.
Whenever people talk about topics in which I am not good at or don’t really care much about it, in a way to not be left out, I try to ask questions about it and make them explain it to me, which in the process show how passionate they are about the topic. Seeing people who are passionate about something showing their interest to you can be extremely valuable and productive, because they can show you how interesting their topic is and people like to talk about things they enjoy, and when they see that you are actually curious about it and want to know more, it can turn into a passage that goes both ways: they might mirror that behaviour of yours to know about their passion when you are the one talking about something they are not passionate about, but you are.
I know that this actually takes effort and that it can work differently on how close you are to someone, but I advise you to give it a shot and be open minded. It is also important to ACTUALLY listen and pay attention to what they are saying and make follow up questions to show that, otherwise it will sound more like an interview and not a good interaction.
I wake up and make an excuse like going to the bathroom or attending a call.
When I come back ussualy the topic is different.
Listen and learn. Topics that you might not be interested in can be important to your friends and part of being a good friend is understanding what each other enjoys.
That’s the same with me lmao, most of the time I just zone out until the topic changes