When I have a conversation, I like it to be back-and-forth: I say something, they react, I react to that, and so on, with reactions being things like asking a q

When I have a conversation, I like it to be back-and-forth: I say something, they react, I react to that, and so on, with reactions being things like asking a question, making an evaluation, saying I have had something similar happen to me, making a funny comment, and so on, so we go further and maybe deeper, a process I find rewarding. The more people, the less often I get to react, and so it gets less enjoyable. On the other hand, with some groups we are on the same wavelength enough that a third person's reactions to the second person are enjoyable to me, too, so I am happy to just listen to their back-and-forth, at least for a while. Ditto if it is a subject being discussed that is really interesting.