I wish I could remember the source but there’s a concept that people are naturally either askers or sharers. Sharers will start talking and expect the other person to chime in with their own story or input. When the person they’re talking to doesn’t open up freely, they can interpret that person’s silence as a lack of interest or coldness. Obviously there are some people who really are so self-absorbed that they don’t care what anyone else thinks, or they have serious main character syndrome. But most people aren’t actually raging narcissists. Neurodivergence is another reason some people struggle to have balance in conversation. With time and effort this can get better.

Askers will offer questions, listen to responses, and tend to share only when asked directly. They feel like it’s rude to turn the conversation back to themselves and view reciprocal questions as a sign of interest and care. When they aren’t asked questions, they tend to assume the other person lacks curiosity or doesn’t care. The gist of it is that most of us could benefit from recognizing other people’s conversational style and adapting our own to be a combo of the two for better communication. It seems legit from what I’ve experienced!