Talking to a friend you haven’t seen in a while about what’s new in your life is basically the opposite of "small talk’.
Only if something unusual has happened. Otherwise it’s just small talk about work and your family’s health. By a certain age there’s basically never anything “new” in your life.
Sure, but I wouldn’t really find the process of starting the conversation to find that out “small talk”. Even if there’s not a lot new most of the time, to me small talk has to be the kind of banal and meaningless conversations that basically never lead into those ‘real’ ones. How’s the weather, what about that local sports team, did you see someone bought that house/building/store down the road, etc.
I think the complicated thing is there are people you don’t really know, acquaintances, where the generic “how’s the wife and kids” is small talk, because they don’t actually really care, it’s just a generic greeting thing. But a friend asking that is different, imo.
Only if something unusual has happened. Otherwise it’s just small talk about work and your family’s health. By a certain age there’s basically never anything “new” in your life.
Sure, but I wouldn’t really find the process of starting the conversation to find that out “small talk”. Even if there’s not a lot new most of the time, to me small talk has to be the kind of banal and meaningless conversations that basically never lead into those ‘real’ ones. How’s the weather, what about that local sports team, did you see someone bought that house/building/store down the road, etc.
I think the complicated thing is there are people you don’t really know, acquaintances, where the generic “how’s the wife and kids” is small talk, because they don’t actually really care, it’s just a generic greeting thing. But a friend asking that is different, imo.
I’m very socially awkward, I don’t understand the issue here. No one’s going to be mad at you for saying “Meh, not really, what about you?”
The expectation that the answer will change over time wears one down when it doesn’t.