This is an ABC podcast.

Where do you stand on talking to strangers?

Like when you're at a cafe or in a queue, do you chat to the barista or the person next to you?

Or does the thought of that sound like your idea of a nightmare?

I was raised by people who talk to strangers constantly. I was actually raised in a family

of funeral directors of all things. And so growing up, I got to see my parents just chat with

people all the time. And they would be so brazen as to lean across a table in a crowded

restaurant and start talking to people. And it wasn't as horrifying or traumatic to me as it is to a lot of teenagers who have parents like this.

I got to see them live their lives like this, and it seemed like a pretty good,

pretty connected and a pretty fun way to live.

That's Joe Cohane.

From a kid of chatty parents, he grew up to become a journalist,

which means talking to strangers became his job. And, you know, my grew up to become a journalist, which means talking to strangers

became his job.

And, you know, my 20s and my 30s, I would talk to people a fair amount, not as much as my

parents, but I would talk to people in bars.

I would talk to people in coffee shops.

But a few years ago, he realized, apart from work, he'd stop talking to the strangers

around him.

I hadn't decided to stop doing it. It just occurred to me that, you know, for some reason,

I had eliminated an entire category of human interaction from my life.

So I became curious, you know, knowing that it was edifying,

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