Break Out of Your Bubble: Talk to a Stranger

Let's Find Common Ground

USC Dornsife Center for the Political Future

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5 • 2.7K Ratings

🗓️ 16 March 2023

⏱️ 27 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Most of us live comfortably in our bubbles, interacting with people who think and often look like us. We may sift out others who don’t fit our mold. A long pandemic hasn’t helped: Covid has made many people wary of being around strangers, let alone talking to them. If you live in a city you operate by invisible rules where you pay just enough attention to a stranger, allowing each of you the space to carry on politely…and distantly. But our guest on this episode says taking the time to talk to people you don’t know can bring unexpected pleasures, and lead to more openness and tolerance. Kio Stark is a qualitative researcher and the author of the book When Strangers Meet. She says when you engage with another person in a store, on a park bench, in line at the DMV, you are getting a peek into someone else’s world and entering into a shared humanity. You’re forging a connection that may help you see the world from another person’s perspective. As Kio says, “a conversation with a stranger can open up your idea of who you think of as part of the society in which you live.” Hear more on the latest episode of Let’s Find Common Ground. Please tell us what you think! Share your feedback in this short survey. For every survey completed, we’ll plant 5 trees. Common Ground Podcast Feedback Survey (qualtrics.com)

Transcript

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0:00.0	We're releasing two shows this month on what we can all do personally
0:05.7	to find common ground.
0:07.5	The next podcast will be about friendships. This one is about speaking with strangers.
0:13.5	Kyo Stalk is our guest.
0:15.5	I don't know that we can change each other's minds about anything. I don't know that we can come to
0:24.0	agreement from these conversations with strangers,
0:28.0	but I do think that it's a step.
0:36.1	This is Let's Find Common Ground. I'm Ashley Melntite and I'm Richard Davies.
0:42.0	How often do you strike up a conversation with a stranger? A lot of us may smile,
0:47.7	maybe open the door for someone we don't know, but often we don't go further than that.
0:53.2	We may feel uncomfortable talking to someone we don't know.
0:57.9	That said, Richard, I know you are not one of those reticent people.
1:03.6	No, reticence is not really in my vocabulary and perhaps it should be.
1:09.7	Usually, I like talking with strangers and I remember as a kid my dad saying that I would never
1:16.7	learn anything talking to other people. He thought I should listen.
1:22.6	This show is about listening and about listening to people who are not like us,
1:28.1	people who may put us outside our comfort zones.
1:32.4	We tend to live in bubbles where we interact mostly with people who think like us and who
1:37.1	often look like us too, but our guest Kyo Stalk says even a brief conversation with someone
1:43.0	outside of that bubble can really change the way you see things. She's the author of the book
1:48.4	when strangers meet. As we'll hear, Kyo is a big advocate for getting outside your comfort zone
1:56.4	and connecting with people you don't know as a way of expanding your perspective and finding
	...

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