Remote work made me realize how much I miss small talk

I’ve been working remotely for almost 3 years now and just had this weird realization that I miss small talk…

Like I used to complain about the “hey how was your weekend” conversations at the office cause they always felt so fake and surface level. But now that every interaction is just slack messages about work stuff or zoom calls with strict agendas I kinda get why that small talk existed. It was the only way you connected with coworkers as actual humans instead of just task completion machines.

Now my entire day is just me alone in my apartment only having work conversations that start with “hey quick question about the project” and end 30 seconds later. No more random chatting by the coffee machine or complaining about traffic together, no finding out your coworker also watches the same stupid reality show you do.

I thought I was introverted and would love this but turns out there’s a line between being introverted and being completely socially isolated, and I have crossed this line by far. My communication skills have gotten so bad that when I do have to talk to people irl I feel rusty and awkward.

I’ve started looking for human contact online, first just chatting but it wasn’t the same as talking. Then I tried going on omegle but bruh there’s so many creeps there I almost felt like maybe it’s not so bad to be alone hahah. Now I’ve gotten more into gaming, either various VR rooms or recently also game nights with ludio. I don’t usually do this kind of stuff but now I’d do anything to have some human contact…

Anyway if you work remote and feel weirdly lonely even though you “talk” to people all day this might be why. Slack messages aren’t real human connection no matter how many emojis you use.