Do not ask me about the weather- it’s South Dakota-everyone knows that it’s windy and cold outside. Please don’t ask me about my weekend either-I sat at home and binge-watched a season of “Arrow” on Netflix, just like last weekend, and the one before that. Oh, and I pray that you won’t ask me about college-honestly I have no idea where I’m going, and the daily reminder that I’m growing up fills me with dread.

The little snippets of pointless conversation that are thrown out to prevent awkward silence take away from a possible important interaction with another human. It seems as though people would rather speak about something that we do not care about or that is irrelevant than take the risk of opening up and having a conversation worth remembering. It is a chore to be barred by routine questions and to be bored by the same answers.

Small talk is an utter waste of time because there is always so much more to talk about then a meaningless, common subject point. We should move towards making the most of our time by instead having a conversation of substance. In three years is it likely that a person will remember a conversation about last night’s big game? Or is it more likely that they will remember the day they made a friend, learned something new or even just had a good laugh?

Do not think of conversation as anything less than rare. Each and every piece of communication is the result of billions of years of human evolution and growth. Everything that has ever happened in the universe has aligned to give way to the meeting of two beings. So why should it be wasted on a conversation neither person cares about? Millions of years of war and love, thousands of seemingly insignificant choices, hundreds of mistakes and success and a countless number of coincidences lead to this one moment.

Skip the small talk and make way for conversation aimed at bettering the human experience. The ancestors of each and every person did not struggle to survive and go through years of hardship just so two people could gossip to each other. Instead of talking about the traffic on the way here, engage in a conversation about what another person looks to accomplish with his life, or inquire about a unique scar; engrave your name into the other person’s brain by having a meaningful conversation.

Make use of the brief time we have here by trying to inspire change or trying to entertain another person, because one person can change another’s world by doing something they view as modest. The weather can’t be changed, last weekend isn’t coming back anytime soon and college is something I still don’t know about-so let’s not waste another second with small talk, and instead focus on change.