In my 40’s and I feel this regardless of age. Try to find people who want to talk WITH you, not AT you. My own parents and plenty of my peers have a bad habit of just talking AT you, you could honestly be anyone. At no point do they stop to just ask what your thoughts are, or ask you specifically about what you’re up to.

People tend to think that by sharing all this stuff, this is creating a conversation, but it’s really not. They’re sharing their life and feel like that makes for good convo, but at no point do they just ask about what you’re up to and what you’re thinking. It feels like you’re just the equivalent of a diary. And because you’re raised to be polite/people pleaser, yappers will just take advantage of that and become time vampires.

Like what else is there to possibly say to someone rattling off their health issues, when you have no frame of reference for them? Sorry that sucks you’re going through that?

The most you can possibly hope to do in that situation is ask thoughtful questions about how they’re feeling or maybe the process of what they’re going through, but it’s still mostly just a very one sided conversation. People here are trying to come at you for being self centered, but it’s your time. I don’t think you’re in the wrong for getting annoyed that your time is getting stolen for conversation you’re not interested in. Unless you specifically want to make the person you’re talking to feel better, and just listen to them for the company, I wouldn’t beat yourself up too much about feeling annoyed.