my go-to conversation starter

welcome to introspection ft. harsehaj! ⭐️ i’m harsehaj, an 18 y/o always up to something in social good x tech.

this publication is a place for me to reflect on a new topic daily, and send it to your inbox. if you’re new here, sign up to tune in! you reading this is keeping me accountable, so thank you for that. as a treat, i drop cool resources/opportunities at the end. 💌 

btw, feel free to reply with topic ideas you want me to write about for future posts.

onto today’s topic: my go-to conversation starter 🗣️

i find small talk a little unbearable. i rarely ask about the weather or weekend plans, and instead jump the gun: diving straight into interests and hot takes.

one question i’ve found that always grows into a pretty fun conversation is: “what are your top 3 music artists?”

i’ll start by saying that i don’t even listen to specific artists repeatedly, since i listen to overall genres. this way, my conversation buddy isn’t pressured to think of 3 music artists on the spot if they don’t have any.

chances are that their answer will strike a few similarities between us. maybe a concert, shared music taste or asking their thoughts on a particular song. there’s a lot to talk about when it comes to music. 🎧

once i exhaust music, i start blending other topics into the conversation:

“do you listen to music while working?” → start talking about productivity, work styles and habits.

“do you use spotify?” → playful banter about spotify vs. apple music → user experience/what we would want to change about either platform

“what kind of music did you listen to when you were younger?” → talk about childhood memories, where we grew up and why our music taste changed.

music is so easy to piggy-back off of and get to know someone’s personality beyond what they do for work or study at school. i’m personally very obsessed with music as you may already know, so it’s a topic that comes naturally to me. the questions keep coming, and the discussion keeps flowing.

of course, i’ll end off the conversation with a promise of sharing a music recommendation, and boom. follow-up conversation and message has been secured. now the conversation doesn’t have to stay as passing small talk, and has an opportunity to blossom into something meaningful.

after all, friendships are formed through multiple happy, chance encounters. 😚

btw, what are your top 3 music artists?

cool finds of the day 🔍️