大象传媒

Is there someone you see in the street every day but never talk to? A neighbour who lives nearby but whose day to day is very different to yours? Sometimes our paths might cross with another person's, and yet we always pass them by.

Maybe it’s time to open up a bit of small talk and kickstart that conversation we've been thinking of. You never know – it could change your life.

We’re used to spending time with people who are similar to us. Friends and family members who largely hold the same views, have the same interests and come from similar backgrounds.

The chances are that a stranger, on the other hand, is nothing like you. They may have had very different experiences, a different education and a different upbringing. And their world view might be wildly different from your own.

Talking to strangers can open up our minds to alternative ways of thinking. It can change our perspective. It provides an opportunity to learn new things, to understand different cultures and different political views. It can also encourage us to feel more empathy for others – for the people who are less well-off and who may have experienced hardship and suffering.

Just one small conversation with a stranger can be giant eye-opener.

Many of us don’t know the names of the people who live next to us, and it’s easy to convince ourselves that they’d rather we kept it that way.

But by plucking up the courage to talk to strangers we can build a community of people around us.

The stranger you say hi to in the street could become the neighbour you can call on when you’re out of teabags, when your oven is broken, or when you urgently need a cat sitter.

We spend our days surrounded by strangers – be it on the daily commute, queuing at the post office or wandering the aisles in the supermarket. And we have a tendency to think that talking to someone we don’t know in one of those scenarios will only make us both feel uncomfortable.

But having a chat to a stranger on your way to the office or in the dentist’s waiting room could leave both of you feeling better.

A recent experiment with commuters showed that those who were told to talk to the person next to them had the most pleasant journeys to work, versus those who remained with their head in a book or a screen.

It can take some effort, but talking to someone unknown can transform the dull moments in our day into something richer and more fulfilling.

Many of us were brought up being told that strangers are not to be trusted. Because we don’t know who they are or what their intentions might be, we remain guarded as a means of self-protection.

But the truth is, most strangers aren’t dangerous in the slightest.

Kio Stark says one of the biggest benefits of talking to strangers is that it liberates the mind. We can put our fears to rest and simply rely on our senses instead.

Perception kicks in and takes over from bias. Instead of placing people in categories – male, female, old, young, Muslim, Christian – we can start seeing them as people, just like us.