Psychology says people who have few close friends often crave depth so intensely that small talk starts to feel like loneliness

Psychology says people who have few close friends often crave depth so intensely that small talk starts to feel like loneliness

I was at a party last year—one of those big backyard things where everyone’s laughing and moving between conversations like it’s no big deal. I talked to probably fifteen people. And by the time I got in my car to drive home, I felt lonelier than I had all week. It wasn’t that anyone was unkind. The conversations were fine. That was the problem. They were fine. Surface-level, forgettable, and gone the moment they ended. I didn’t want more people…