Darn, I left my soapbox behind.

Lets project.

I defiantly mount the 3 steps to the podium. I face my audience and let it fly.

Why do so many fellow humans lack social skills?

Whatever happened to basic human manners?

I have noticed a pattern lately. I ask people about their families. Their work. What is on their mind. What worries them. And off they go—beautifully, expansively, with footnotes and subplots.

Then… nothing.

No return question. No polite pivot. Not even the classic, low-effort, conversational lifesaver, “And you?”

It’s as if I’ve wandered into a one-person TED Talk where my sole role is to nod encouragingly and sip my drink.

This is not about deep intimacy or soul-baring.

I am not asking for your childhood trauma or your five-year plan. I’m talking about the most basic form of human exchange—the conversational equivalent of holding a door open. Acknowledging that the person across from you also exists.

When did we stop doing that?

Somewhere along the way, curiosity about others seems to have been replaced by performance. We speak not to connect, but to broadcast. Conversations have become personal press releases. Listening is now just the pause between our own thoughts.

And look, I get it. Life is noisy. People are.stressed and  tired. Everyone is busy. processing a lot, but manners used to be the one thing that did not require extra bandwidth. They were muscle memory. Reflexive. Human.

Now silence follows the endless monologue like a dropped call.

Perhaps it is social media training us to talk at people instead of with them. Maybe it is the cult of personal branding. Maybe we have confused self-awareness with self-absorption or maybe we’re all just so busy curating our own narratives that we have forgotten other people have one, too.

The irony, of course, is that connection, the thing everyone claims to crave, starts with a question you actually mean.

So here is a modest proposal. Ask less about being seen and a little more about seeing. Return the question. Share the stage. Practice the radical act of curiosity.

It will not fix society, but you will be looked upon a great deal more positively.

Have a great day, practice kindness 😎