[jdporter]

The book Willem says he is reading, by Joe Keohane, talks about the benefits of talking to strangers, and calls this "connecting". That is not at all what psychologists mean by "connecting". I talk to people all the time, both familiar and strange, and yet am not connected to anyone, in the latter sense.

[willemlaurentz]

Thanks for pointing this out. I purposefully write about "talking" to strangers. But, in the book Jeo Keohane actually goes a long way to have more meaningful, deeper, conversations.

By offering yourself as attentive listener, random strangers that you engage with can feel comfortable enough to share a little more than just smalltalk. The book discusses several cases where folks with very different backgrounds and ideas actually come together, sometimes even forming friendships.

As I am not a psychologist I do not know the accepted definition of "connecting", but I am sure it needs more than just smalltalk. I don't know, I am just a random guy doing a little experiment. :-)