Did you ever play as a kid? If you had kids, how would you play with them? Do you play with pets? Is all of the above boring? I think I would take being bored

Did you ever play as a kid? If you had kids, how would you play with them? Do you play with pets? Is all of the above boring? I think I would take being bored in social settings as a creative challenge. I love the play element of social interactions. It's an improv. Think of taking a hot potato and passing it back and forth as you and the partner continue some line, which could seem almost pointless outside of that context. It's the activity which I enjoy, not the content. Maybe it helps that I'm generally quick witted when I'm talking to people, and I love every opportunity to exercise it. Cracking jokes is a great way to get people out of "serious" mode. As I said in another comment, deep conversation is like dating. It's unlikely that any given person is going to be interested in whatever it is that you're looking for right at that time. It works better when you have a large pool of people, because you get a higher hit rate. That's why the author of the article likes writing online in front of a big audience.