Narrator: People talk to us about all kinds of things. Some of it will be interesting to us, and some of it will not be interesting. It’s okay to think something is boring, but it’s not okay to show it. Acting bored when someone is talking hurts peoples’ feelings. Others’ feelings are more important than whether we’re interested or not. 

So, what do we do when the topic bores us? We pretend we’re interested. That’s right. We act interested even when we’re not. Showing interest will encourage people to talk to you more. We want people to feel good every time they talk to us. 

Our body and face are an important part of pretending we’re interested. We look at people, we may lean in with our bodies, and we sound enthusiastic. We keep the conversation going with questions, comments, and compliments. The goal is to be so good at pretending we’re interested, people can’t tell if we are or not. Hey, you never know where the conversation will go.

So, what did we learn? Everyone fakes interest when they’re bored. We all feel a little bit like actors, but that’s much better than looking bored. We take these steps to act interested even when we aren’t. We make our voice sound enthusiastic. Our face looks interested, our body faces who we’re talking to, and we nod along. We keep the conversation going by asking questions, making comments, or giving compliments.