Curated by professional editors, The Conversation offers informed commentary and debate on the issues affecting our world. Plus a Plain English guide to the latest developments and discoveries from ...

We need to start an important conversation about all of the important conversations we need to have. Our backlog of important conversations seems to be growing at a much faster rate than these actual ...

What happens when we become too dependent on our mobile phones? According to MIT sociologist Sherry Turkle, author of the new book Reclaiming Conversation, we lose our ability to have deeper, more ...

In the face of loneliness, many people are turning to AI chatbots for companionship – but research shows it can’t replace human connection. Columnist David Robson explores how beneficial it can be to ...

Early in my magazine career, I landed an interview with a relatively famous celebrity (who I will not name for reasons that will become obvious). I was desperate to make a good impression, so while ...

You know the feeling. You’re at a party, doing your best to chat up the room, when suddenly the conversation falls off a cliff. You’ve asked all the small-talk staples: what they do, where they’re ...

That awkward silence. We’ve all been there. Maybe it’s when you’re meeting someone for the first time. On a date, even. Or in a job interview. Have you ever felt afraid that you would run out of ...

You’ve been chatting with someone for 20 minutes, but the conversation grew stale halfway through. You look around the room, desperate to find an escape from this tedious monologue but can’t come up ...

There was once a time when strangers talked to one another, sometimes eagerly. “In past eras, daily life made it necessary for individuals to engage with others different from themselves,” Paula ...