Small talk may be the most maligned category of conversation. For many, it's a time-waster with no redeeming qualities other than mindless chatter. Yet, when properly understood and applied, small ...

A quick back and forth with the cashier at the grocery store. A friendly hello to someone on the elevator. A laugh with a taxi driver. These are all examples of "small talk." Some of us live for small ...

Haupt is a health and wellness editor at TIME. Haupt is a health and wellness editor at TIME. When Gillian Sandstrom was a graduate student in Toronto more than a decade ago, she encountered a ...

It's easy to say, "I'm not good at small talk" and simply try to ignore it, Charles Duhigg, author of The Power of Habit argues that small talk isn't an innate skill, but rather a learned behavior.

You walk into the conference networking event, feeling alone, aware of the steady chatter throughout the room. You look to find someone you might know, you sense your breath growing faster and you ...

Think about what it's like to be at a birthday dinner where you have to interact with your friend's neighbors for the first time, or what it's like to be waiting for a Zoom to begin with coworkers you ...