They probably do care about the answer, it's just not a 'life story' type question. You can say "I'm tired" or "Rough day" or, you can tell something that happ

They probably do care about the answer, it's just not a 'life story' type question. You can say "I'm tired" or "Rough day" or, you can tell something that happened recently. "How are you doing" -> "Well, my dog passed away last night, so ..." Or "I've been up all night studying, so kind of scattered" Or "Well I just won the CS101 competition, so, stoked!"