Because I don’t, and pretending to feels dishonest. I’ll listen if they want to talk about it, but I’m not going to act interested, and I certainly won’t ask about it on my own. What I’m trying to figure out is whether people actually care, or if they’re just playing a social game that I’m simply not interested in.
I’m probably on the autistic spectrum, which likely explains this to some extent. But that’s not an excuse - being an asshole is perfectly compatible with autism, so before dunking on me, please realise I probably agree with your criticism.
In general I don’t care. I too have come to realize that I’m autistic. It’s a shame that I didn’t understand this until my 40’s.
I have found though that I will care if it’s a topic I am also interested in. Babies don’t interest me, and in fact annoy me. So that one is out. Most life events, don’t care.
Vacation stuff? Ok now I’m listening because I do like to travel and I may learn something. Wanna discuss engineering? We could go for hours.
I guess the threshold is, will I get anything out of this conversation? Which, maybe is selfish, maybe it’s autism, I donno. I’m happy that you’re happy about the thing but if I’m being honest with myself I don’t care unless it effects me.
That’s specific to the topics OP is describing and not all conversations. If someone is in need of guidance of something I’m happy to share my knowledge. I am fortunately not a narcissist.