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Chatting about small matters connects people to people. Some people like that. I don't know that this could be simpler and am surprised to see a rash of similar threads lately. "ZOMG why do people like to communicate about non-essential, non-critical things? Why that is just cray-cray!"" Uh...how long have you been a human being again? LOL! These are the easy ones, folks, they get tougher...
Anyway...HTH. For all the C-3POs out there who have not yet figured out that social species communicate non-essentially in order to create or strengthen bonds, whether temporarily or long-term, this one's for you.
If all that chit-chat is so tiresome, I suppose we could all just preen each other.
But there is something I don't understand. Many posters, mostly female, post about and are interested in the posts of others concerning the most trivial, mundane, boring aspects of daily life: Do people have no life of the mind, no real adventures or significant happenings in their lives? If so, perhaps the meaningless trivia is all there is and people validate each other by relating their trivia? Help me with this.
Haven't read all the replies but boy do I relate to what you're saying. The other day I was with two girls, one 18 and the other 14. For most of the day they were texting each other and their friends. "I can't find my slippers!" "My scholarship money is about to run out!" "What happened with your hair?" "I forgot what I'm supposed to get at the store for Mom!" "He said William likes me!" "I forgot my lunch card!" "Write out the answer to problem 5 on page 112 ok?" "Do I look fat in this one?" "I told him 10 times I can't!" "Whose puppy is that?" "That really sucks!" "What happened with your hair?" "Oh no she didn't just give me a dirty look!" "Do you think William likes me? Tell the truth!" "This ____ing phone is out of minutes! I call you from home." On and on for about 16 hours every few minutes. With lots of pings dings bells and whistles.
Haven't read all the replies but boy do I relate to what you're saying. The other day I was with two girls, one 18 and the other 14. For most of the day they were texting each other and their friends. "I can't find my slippers!" "My scholarship money is about to run out!" "What happened with your hair?" "I forgot what I'm supposed to get at the store for Mom!" "He said William likes me!" "I forgot my lunch card!" "Write out the answer to problem 5 on page 112 ok?" "Do I look fat in this one?" "I told him 10 times I can't!" "Whose puppy is that?" "That really sucks!" "What happened with your hair?" "Oh no she didn't just give me a dirty look!" "Do you think William likes me? Tell the truth!" "This ____ing phone is out of minutes! I call you from home." On and on for about 16 hours every few minutes. With lots of pings dings bells and whistles.
Yes, quite incredible! Another poster already noted that the phenomenon is not limited to the folks old enough to be posting in the Retirement Forum on City-Data, and he or she cited the very young and their texting.
Chatting about small matters connects people to people. Some people like that. I don't know that this could be simpler and am surprised to see a rash of similar threads lately. "ZOMG why do people like to communicate about non-essential, non-critical things? Why that is just cray-cray!"" Uh...how long have you been a human being again? LOL! These are the easy ones, folks, they get tougher...
Anyway...HTH. For all the C-3POs out there who have not yet figured out that social species communicate non-essentially in order to create or strengthen bonds, whether temporarily or long-term, this one's for you.
I wasn't aware of "a rash of similar threads lately"; if I had taken more time to look for them I could have particiated in them instead of starting my own.
This method of creating connections is not universal, however; I and others in this thread are witness to that. Therefore the remark implying that if we don't get it, we aren't really human beings is completely out of line. People differ in what they relate to, which is what the thread is about - one group trying to understand the other. For example, if my neighbor has a difference approach or preference about something, I don't suggest that the neighbor is not a human being. That concept should be pretty easy.
I'm late to the party on this one, but it's given me the opportunity to read the entire thread. The one thing that stands out is the title/question: Why are many people interested in the inane trivia of the daily lives of others?
I think there actually should be two questions. Why do people like to post the inane trivia of their daily lives? And Why do people like to read about other's inane trivia? The latter question interests me much more than the first---since the obvious answer to the first is that people don't think what they are talking about is inane or trivial. What I find more interesting is to wonder whether other people truly are interested in "the inane trivia of the daily lives of others." Just because someone posts something doesn't mean that m/any others will be interested. I've started threads that I've been really into, either because the topic strokes me deeply in a positive or negative way---only to have radio silence and hear the crickets chirping. No one or very few respond! It would seem that the topic was of interest only to little ole me.
I am fascinated (and repelled) by parallel conversations. I find this all too often. One person says something and the other responds by not responding directly to what the first person said by instead putting themselves into it (their thoughts, feelings, and experiences). I haven't traveled for years, but recently got together with friends who had returned from a week in London. That was one of the last places I had been to and really liked, so at least I could contribute to the conversation. But it didn't go past "I went to this place" and "Well, I went to that place." Have you ever heard two parents/grandparents talk about their grand/kids? "Johnny got into Harvard." The response isn't "Congrats! That's wonderful. Hope he enjoys Boston and is prepared for cold weather and lots of academic challenges." Instead it's: "My Jennifer got into Yale."
So how do we know that just because people post something that others ARE interested? I looked at the chat thread---looks like people say their thing and then quickly another topic comes up. And that's okay. That's what that thread is for.
CD is great because there are places for idle chitchat as well as profound debate. Eleanor Roosevelt said "Small minds discuss people, average minds discuss events, and great minds discuss ideas." I'm okay with integrating all three. Sometimes I really want to stretch my mind, other times just chill.
As an introvert I do prefer the deeper topics and communication, but it would scare off most people to delve into such stuff right away, so it can work better to disclose one's personality, thoughts, and feelings slowly and shallowly, in real life and on online forums. Since my time and energy are finite, I may not spend much time on just a chat thread, but I'm fine with those who do!
I wasn't aware of "a rash of similar threads lately"; if I had taken more time to look for them I could have particiated in them instead of starting my own.
This method of creating connections is not universal, however; I and others in this thread are witness to that. Therefore the remark implying that if we don't get it, we aren't really human beings is completely out of line. People differ in what they relate to, which is what the thread is about - one group trying to understand the other. For example, if my neighbor has a difference approach or preference about something, I don't suggest that the neighbor is not a human being. That concept should be pretty easy.
Yes, you are the third I've seen in I think the past week.
Come on, I was not literally saying you're not a person...obviously you are, LOL. I was joking around with that comment and tried with the smilies...I don't think you're a bot or something.
But let's face it, you are NOT looking for calm, reasonable discourse but rather have come right out of the gate attacking, basically. Heck, the title of the thread states interest in trivia as "inane." Near the end, of course, is the real icing on the cake where you suggest people who discuss matters YOU think of as apparently "inane" as possibly "having no life." I responded just as saucily/snottily as the winners you shot out. If you can't stand the heat...etc.
But within all that I was making a point. If you really are looking for rational discourse about this rather than looking to jab with insults and drag the whole "this is a woman thing" into it, you may want to look past what you object to and see what that point is. Then we can go from there and discuss what prompts so-termed small talk. I believe I already described this and yes, I AM rather surprised that anyone could reach adulthood and not understand how such interaction works even if one is not too keen on doing it, simply by exposure to other people throughout one's life, but if I can help you further, let me know and we can discuss.
Honestly, you set the tone of the thread, I responded, now you are unhappy; but you should understand that if responses are less than favorable, it's probably because you jumped right out there calling people's communications style inane and saying they have no lives. Further, the post sounded angry/irritated...as if people shouldn't communicate that way. If you weren't expecting saucy replies to that odd and insulting stance then I'm afraid I don't know what to tell you, LOL, but perhaps I've at least explained why my joking reaction, that is assuming you really don't understand. HTH.
Momentous events do not happen to most people (even men) every day and not everyone has profound thoughts every waking moment (even men), but people still interact with each other in their daily lives. For the vast majority of the human population who are ordinary mortals, the discussion topics that arise in their ordinary mortal lives are basically just ordinary topics. For those of us who are ordinary mortals and just live ordinary (yet still happy, useful, worthwhile) lives, we still like to interact with other ordinary mortals. So we talk about ordinary mortal things, just everyday, mundane stuff because we're just ordinary mortals. We very likely do appear to be worthless and unworthy to the small number of exalted, superior beings who occasionally deign to walk among us, but we don't really care what they think, so we just go about our ordinary mortal lives interacting with other ordinary mortals in harmless, ordinary conversations, almost certainly none of which involves any new insights into the works of Proust or Mahler. It is what it is.
My thoughts exactly. Only we don't know how many people who post about their mundane, boring lives are lonely shut ins and just need an outlet.
No body cares about the lonely guy in the corner house in the center of town that sits on his porch until the wee hours of the morning.
I stopped to talk to him and discovered that he was getting divorced at 76 years of age. He was drinking heavily when I first met him and needed an ear.
I visited him last night on my late night bike ride and this is our third summer together. He's still drinking and he's not a healthy senior.
There you go, a slice of mundane life. Boring to some, real to others, and precious to me. Thank you for letting me express myself.
Well, I work from home. I love what I do, and I love being able to work from home and not in an office, but there is one downside -- it can get a bit lonely during the day. Checking in on forums or social media when I take a break gives me that "small talk" experience. I can see where a retired person, stay-at-home mom or someone else who is home for most of the day might want the same thing.
Also, people start to feel attached to the friends they talk to regularly online, so they may want support or want to share support...hence why things like sick pets, etc. might be mentioned.
As the person who does all of the grocery shopping and the bulk of the cooking in our household (although my husband can make a perfect pancake and a delicious steak!), I like reading what people are eating/cooking because it gives me inspiration. Sometimes I get tired of making the same old things, and reading what someone else is cooking can give me new ideas.
My thoughts exactly. Only we don't know how many people who post about their mundane, boring lives are lonely shut ins and just need an outlet.
No body cares about the lonely guy in the corner house in the center of town that sits on his porch until the wee hours of the morning.
I stopped to talk to him and discovered that he was getting divorced at 76 years of age. He was drinking heavily when I first met him and needed an ear.
I visited him last night on my late night bike ride and this is our third summer together. He's still drinking and he's not a healthy senior.
There you go, a slice of mundane life. Boring to some, real to others, and precious to me. Thank you for letting me express myself.
I suppose we would all draw the line in different places (the line between interesting and boring), but for me personally your story about the elderly solitary drinker is extremely interesting. It is genuine human drama, a tragic example of being hermit-like. Bless you for going out of your way to provide a bit of companionship and human presence in his life. I disagree that your brief tale is "a slice of mundane life". On the contrary, it is a slice of non-routine life. Not at all the same as what you had for dinner or how you enjoyed the sunset.
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My thoughts exactly. Only we don't know how many people who post about their mundane, boring lives are lonely shut ins and just need an outlet. 
and he's not a healthy senior. 
