Depending on your natural level of extraversion, you may view chit-chat with strangers more like a mild form of torture than a mood booster (as an introvert, I hear you). But the research is clear: ...

Carly Valancy kick-started her career with an ambitious networking strategy. Five years later, she's trying it again.

The close relationships we have with romantic partners, family, friends and even co-workers enrich our lives in countless ways. But there’s another type of connection that’s meaningful but often ...

If you know me, you know I can talk with almost anyone, from the cashier at Hannaford to the local bank's president. I am endlessly curious about people, so I really enjoy talking with people and ...

RaeAnne Ellert grew up feeling isolated by her disability and found solace in online friendships. It wasn't until someone warned her that one of those friends was a potential scammer that she realized ...

When you were young, a parent or guardian might have told you, "don't talk to strangers!" I know mine did and I generally followed that direction. As a kid, it probably kept me out of some trouble too ...

The corner of 19th and Broadway in Oakland is a bad place to be alone and waiting for anything except trouble at 1 o'clock in the morning. I was waiting for a cab. I'd missed the 12th Street stop on ...

Don’t talk to strangers.”Practice makes perfect.” These two childhood phrases seem wholly unconnected, but recently, I discovered that they work well in conjunction with one another. Since I was ...

Do you welcome conversation with a stranger on an airplane? Or do you use earbuds—the universal sign that you're in a no talking zone—to silence your neighbor? Despite our increasingly 'social' world, ...

I have noise-canceling headphones. I work out in them which, in turn, has made them so sweaty and disgusting that I can’t wear them outside of the gym. I used to wear them nonstop, for almost all ...

It’s the final weekend before the presidential election and the last thing I want to do is write about politics. So, I won’t. You will find politics on almost every other page of wherever you read ...