--- title: Why You’re Bad at Small Talk description: Why you’re bad at small talk, how cougars and mountain lions can save hundreds of lives and more. canonical: https://time.com/4423934/why-youre-bad-at-small-talk/ author: TIME article:opinion: true article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-07-26T16:00:07.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-05-11T04:59:41.265Z article:section: Ideas og:title: Why You're Bad at Small Talk og:description: These are today's best ideas og:url: https://time.com/4423934/why-youre-bad-at-small-talk/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Why You're Bad at Small Talk twitter:description: These are today's best ideas twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # Why You're Bad at Small Talk by [The Aspen Institute](https://time.com/author/the-aspen-institute/) ## The Aspen Institute Jul 26, 2016 4:00 PM UTC by [The Aspen Institute](https://time.com/author/the-aspen-institute/) ## The Aspen Institute Jul 26, 2016 4:00 PM UTC **1\.** [**Why you’re bad at small talk.**](http://nymag.com/scienceofus/2016/07/why-you-are-bad-at-small-talk.html) By Drake Baer in the Science of Us **2\.** [**How cougars and mountain lions can save hundreds of lives.**](http://www.washington.edu/news/2016/07/14/cougars-could-save-lives-by-lowering-vehicle-collisions-with-deer/) By Michelle Ma at the University of Washington **3\.** [**This natural gas-powered air conditioner makes electricity — instead of consuming it.**](http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/plugged-in/the-air-conditioner-that-makes-electricity/) By Robert Fares in Scientific American **4\.** [**New York, Paris…Kinshasa? Meet Africa’s rising fashion star.**](http://citiscope.org/story/2016/kinshasa-building-fashion-industry-one-stitch-time) By Stephanie Bakker and Yvonne Brandwijk in Cityscope **5\.** [**Here’s what a post-ISIS recovery in Iraq will need to succeed.**](http://www.defenseone.com/ideas/2016/07/reconciliation-iraq-needs-real-plan-and-real-money/130040/) By Nancy Lindborg and Sarhang Hamasaeed in Defense One  [_The Aspen Institute_](http://www.aspeninstitute.org/) _is an educational and policy studies organization based in Washington, D.C._ ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"OpinionNewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4423934/why-youre-bad-at-small-talk/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4423934/why-youre-bad-at-small-talk/"},"headline":"Why You're Bad at Small Talk","datePublished":"2016-07-26T16:00:07.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T04:59:41.265Z","description":"These are today's best ideas","url":"https://time.com/4423934/why-youre-bad-at-small-talk/","keywords":["Innovation","Africa","ISIS","conversation"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"The Aspen Institute","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/the-aspen-institute/"}],"articleSection":"Ideas","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/ideas/","name":"Ideas"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/innovation/","name":"Innovation"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4423934/why-youre-bad-at-small-talk/","name":"Why You're Bad at Small Talk"}}]}] ```