It’s actually not the content of small talk that makes it significant. It’s everything else: tone, body language, rate of speech, emotional mood and more.

Key points Many people dislike small talk due to it feeling tedious and unnecessary to them. For others, engaging in small talk is a vital part of social interaction and relationship-building.

Vanessa Gonzalez, 41, and her daughter, Alexandra, 7, relax in their D.C. home. Gonzalez did not grow up speaking fluent Spanish, but she has enrolled her daughter in an immersion school in the ...

It's not what you say that's important in small talk. Aleksander Rubtsov / Blend Images via AP “What I’m finding over and over is that talking to people makes us feel connected to others.