I realized why group conversations usually suck

Today I sat down and smoked a cigar with a group of older guys (55-70 years old). A few times I wanted to ask a question to hear more about something that was said. Like one guy was talking about how widely used acid was when he was in the service, and I wanted to hear more about that but there was no room or patience for questions. There was no dead air, everytime someone finished a sentence someone else would jump right in to say their own thing, and sometimes take the conversation in an entirely different direction. No one was asking anyone questions or giving any topic room to breathe. There was no digestion of what anyone was saying, just a race to say the first thing that came to your head.

Now that I’ve thought about it more, I realize group conversations are almost always like that, and that’s why I generally avoid them or tend to space out during them. People need to slow down, shut up, and ask at least one question to someone else for every declarative statement or story of their own they want to share.