Did you know we underestimate how much we'll enjoy a session of small talk?

That's one of the things that stuck with me while putting together Edition #57 of Curiosity Saved The Cat, which went out this Sunday 💫

A study involving 1,800 participants across 9 experiments found the same pattern: we consistently underestimate how much we'll enjoy talking to someone, which might explain why we spend so much energy trying to skip past small talk rather than actually having it.

The edition starts from something personal: I genuinely enjoy networking events, the full thing, including the first five awkward minutes of figuring out who you're talking to and where the conversation might go. Most people find that strange. But so many ideas, friendships, and shifts in perspective in my life came from exchanges I almost talked myself out of starting.

From there it goes into the evolutionary roots of small talk (turns out it has more in common with primate grooming than we'd like to admit), how Finland built an entire culture around comfortable silence and what that says about our own discomfort with it, and why 38% of Gen Z workers now dread casual conversation enough that dedicated coaching sessions exist for it.

The question I left readers with: think of a conversation you almost didn't have, one you nearly talked yourself out of, that ended up meaning something. What made you start it anyway, and what would have been quietly lost if you hadn't?

You can explore the full edition here: https://curiositysavedthecat.com/p/57-what-are-we-missing-when-we-skip-small-talk