> It's just that when someone asks me I always tell them I am fine even if I am not. I don't want to bother them with my troubles. Maybe this is generational,

> It's just that when someone asks me I always tell them I am fine even if I am not. I don't want to bother them with my troubles. Maybe this is generational, but to me that's just the basic social contract? I remember visiting a friend in North Carolina, and as we were walking a complete stranger asked "How are you?". Without missing a beat my friend nods and asks "How are you?" in reply and continues on... and apparently that was normal to him. It's not really about asking someone to dump their troubles on your plate, it's about acknowledging the person before you make an ask. As long as you're not pinging someone multiple times over it, I don't see an issue. The idea is just don't make someone switch contexts a bunch of times over niceties