The opnrs blog
Essays on conversation, attention, and asking better questions.
The attention economy is eating our conversations (and what we lose)
Every app on your phone is engineered to win the next ten seconds of your attention. Conversation is the thing that keeps losing. Here is what that costs us, and what it takes to get it back.
The loneliness epidemic and the case for asking
Loneliness is now a declared public health crisis, and the standard advice (join things, put yourself out there) skips the actual mechanism of connection. Connection is made of asking. Here is the case.
Put the phone face-down: reclaiming the dinner table
The dinner table is the last daily ritual where conversation is the whole point, and it is losing to a glowing rectangle next to the plate. A practical, guilt-free guide to taking it back.
Small talk is broken: why better questions change the room
Small talk fails not because it is small but because it is closed. The difference between a dead conversation and a live one is usually a single better question. Here is the mechanics of why.