I’m not gonna say I’m an intellectual or anything. Its just that I’ve lost interest in watching the new movies and tv shows everyone’s been talking about and listening to the weekly top 10 songs.
I’m interested in philosophy, economics, history and the natural sciences. I’m not well read on any of these but I plan to be once I get my shit together.
I get it that the average person is not going to be interested in these things which is okay but how will I socialize when there are drastically less things to talk about?
2 comments
First off, in the streaming age, not everyone is watching the same shows. Not everyone has the same streaming services. It’s not like “who shot JR” in 1980 when half the country was watching Dallas. There still are pop charts, but Spotify and SoundCloud and such allow niche genres to grow to unprecedented size.
But the mistake you’re making is assuming that if you aren’t into the same things, then you can’t talk about anything. That’s not correct. The thing about socializing with people you don’t know well is that you can still give each other the feeling of a pleasant interaction even if you don’t end up vibing and becoming friends.
Two polite people with good intentions will sort of *pretend* to be interested in each other for a few minutes. Then they can both walk away feeling appreciated and recognized. If they start talking about a show you aren’t into, just smile, nod, and ask some questions. “Oh really? So why is Mando working so hard to protect baby Yoda? Gotcha, that’s cool.” And then when it’s your turn to talk and it’s a good time for a change of topic, you say “so I started reading a new book last week and it’s really fascinating.” And if they’re a good conversationalist, they’ll ask you some questions and give you the chance to let loose.
Talk about animals, or the outdoors. Are you active? Do you have any hobbies aside from the aforementioned interests in academia?
Edit: there’s more to talk about than pop culture. Shared interests being the most obvious to me.