TALK MORE, PLEASE

 

As I read through the editorial folio of  The Times of India of 23rd September 2026, attention was drawn to a quote from Andre Maurios atop the editorials. 

"Conversation would be vastly improved by the constant use of four simple words -                    - I do not know" 

Beneath that there was the intriguing title,  'Talk More, Please.'

It aroused my curiosity. Let me place here what I absorbed. 

It is the full text.

TALK MORE, PLEASE

People now talk a lot less than they did 20 years ago. That might have social and emotional costs.

Humans have been talking for at least 200000 years. But it looks like we aren't practicing enough of late. In 2005, psychologists ran an experiment to test the belief that women out talk men. They found it was bunk. In fact, the most loquacious participants in the study turned out to be some men, averaging 47000 a day.- roughly half the length of a typical modern novel. But the overall average was around 16000 words, with no significant difference between the sexes. By 2019, it had fallen to roughly 12000 words.

Nobody knows for sure why we became less talkative, but the top hunch is that we became too engrossed in our digital lives. Navigation apps made stopping and asking directions unnecessary. E-comm silenced shopping. We enter elevators, nose in phone, and ride the subway without acknowledging other riders. 

"Can't talk, please text," is our permanent status. Small talk, incidental conversations with strangers, and outer -circle interactions with acquaintances and neighbours are unnecessary and avoidable. We have optimised our leisure time, taking morning walks plugged into music or podcasts.

This "efficiency" has cost us many millions of words each over the years. And it matters because we are social animals. Yes, small talk seems wasteful, but research shows we actually come away happier from it. Speaking those few words to a neighbour or rank stranger, makes us feel more connected. You may discuss the weather, but the real communication occurs through tone, gestures, body language or facial expressions. You can't harbour  hatred for someone after lamenting onion prices with them. So, small talk makes the world a less hostile place. 

We look at each other and think, " I know you. We've spoken before. You're not out to harm me. We can get along."

The 4000 daily words we don't speak now were part of our social budget. We still talk to family, close friends and work teams more or less as we did before, but on everyone  else we are shutting the door. For what? To watch more reels, or soak in rage on X? It's not a good bargain. Maybe, if we dug ourselves out of our phones and said more hellos, we'd feel more emotionally and socially secure.