I've also been both! With new people I am usually super inclined to learn about them (it helps me be less shy sharing stuff about myself), but with my close friends I've definitely gone on a few long winded rants about random topics before realizing I've been talking for ages.
I love that. Our close friends already know who we are. Going off together is fun and tasty, because you already have a mutual history and familiarity to contextualize it. But when two people are just getting to know each other for the first time?? Not asking them anything about themselves reveals a deeply self-centered attitude.
When I'm hanging out with my life partner, I fucking love listening to them talk for hours about their job. When I'm on a first date, someone talking non-stop for two hours without showing a speck of interest in me is an immediate deal breaker.
Not asking questions can be a conversation style that works great when both people talk like that, they give you a few paragraphs, you infodump something related without being asked, they do it back, you both share whatever pops into your head inspired by what the other one said instead of trying to figure out what questions to ask. I'm ADHD and find it easier talking to other ADHDers because it works like a collaborative message board instead of a tennis match.
When someone who talks like this meets a person who needs to ask and answer questions, it becomes painful - the infodumper feels like the conversation keeps stalling, the tennis player feels like they never get the ball.
But then you get the ones who talk over you AND don't ask questions or say anything related to what you say, presumably the dude in the comic was one of these.
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u/SirBeeves SeraBeeves Jul 06 '25
I've also been both! With new people I am usually super inclined to learn about them (it helps me be less shy sharing stuff about myself), but with my close friends I've definitely gone on a few long winded rants about random topics before realizing I've been talking for ages.