I dunno, I've lived in places where casual interaction is more common, and it can be delightful. A culture of "don't talk to me unless there's a practical issu

I dunno, I've lived in places where casual interaction is more common, and it can be delightful. A culture of "don't talk to me unless there's a practical issue" is, at the very least, prone to atomization. In fact, I don't think you're quite right about the tacit assumption involved. I rather think it is assumed that if someone asks you something, they it is not for instrumental purposes. If someone is talking to me, it's because they want something; that request had better be legitimate. And this is what I find unnerving about "Rejection Therapy" and its ilk: I'm being used as a means to an end. I think we need more interaction with no-strings-attached, not less.