As I've gotten older I've found that increasingly I'm unsure how to respond to people who talk about things I either don't have any personal experience or connection to, I don't know much about or I don't have much interest in. People used to tell me that I'm a great listener and when I think about it, I think that's because when I didn't understand what someone was saying or didn't have much personal experience with it or knowledge of the topic, I'd ask questions. And I still do that sometimes but there are other times, especially with people who I'm close with (friends or family), where we'll be chatting about a topic related to them either in-person or over text message and it'll get to a point where I feel like I have nothing more to add. Or they'll say something or make a statement and I just don't know what kind of question to ask to keep the conversation going. Sometimes I think it's actually that I don't care enough to ask a question to keep the conversation going.
It's been happening a bit with a few friends. One friend when we talk about their PhD project, another when we talk about their fertility journey and with the third friend it actually happens a fair bit around a range of topics and with them I think it's because we think about things in really different ways.
It's a weird new situation that I've observed over the past couple of years when it comes to communication. I'm not sure if it's related some kind of cognitive decline on my behalf, or a declining sense of empathy or perhaps just not caring enough (or not having the energy) to engage in ongoing conversations about things I don't have experience with/knowledge of/interest in.
