I like to think of it as giving people an opening.
Make a comment or two that invites discussion. If it takes, great. Maybe chat for a minute, maybe for a while.
If not, oh well, better luck next time.
Wo is interested and who is not is extremely easy to discern, in my opinion. The fact that you clearly think otherwise is not surprising, but I do think it’s easier than you give it credit for.
These two words completely mischaracterize the situation.
Guessing you haven’t bothered with the links I posted, since you haven’t spoken to them and continue to just try to find ways to pick at some point that I’m not trying to make, but I encourage you to take a few minutes to read them with an open mind.
It wouldn't cost you anything not to bother others,
Also doesn’t cost anything to bring some joy, or if not joy, at least novelty, into people’s lives.
I'm sure your intentions are good but you will be making a lot of people uncomfortable in your attempt to connect with them.
I think you dramatically overestimate how many people are made uncomfortable due to your own anxieties about it. I also think you’re missing out on little opportunities for joy in your life.
I can keep posting links, but it’s pretty clear you’re not reading them. (ETA: they might have been in other threads)
There's better places for that than public transit or a plane.
I’m not trying to get into the “how to disengage from a stranger” conversation, but your assessment of people interacting in public seems to be predicated with an assumption that they dont understand people.
You have made some additional bad assumptions about how you think the interactions I’m proposing should go, and how and when they should stop.
The good news is that this hostility toward the world that you seem to set on projecting from these comments is usually pretty obvious, so I probably wouldn’t have bothered.
Just put your headphones on and your hoodie up so you can get back to arguing with strangers on the internet, and continue your transit in misery.
But public transport? Nobody wants to be there. You've got a goal and it's not socialising, it's getting somewhere. Maybe you're anxious about going to the doctor, maybe you're anticipating a shitty workday.
Fully with you.
It's annoying to have to talk to other people when you're trying to think about things.
I would argue that a large chunk of the people you describe above are not “trying to think about things”, they’re just trying to get to point B. They’ve got a goal, after all.
And again, research consistently shows that these interactions tend to be viewed much more positively after they happen than those same people expected them to be, and it holds for either side of the interaction.
I’m sure I’m preaching to the atheists here in the comments. All those replying here all seem to be convinced already, and that’s fine.
Guess I just think it’s interesting that those that would bother to come on the internet to talk to strangers are so convinced that it would be annoying to talk to strangers.
And I will respectfully point out that you seem to be arguing entirely from vibes and anecdotes.