Small talk is the epitome of awkward. Imagine going somewhere and making eye contact with that person you kinda know but not really. At this point, you're at the stage where you can't ignore them, but you're not close enough to ask them what's good. I've let this continue for far too long in my 21 years, so I finally decided to suck it up and learn to acknowledge small talk for what it's worth. This is why you should too.

1. You can ask questions

Questions are a direct way to show someone that you have interest in even conversing with them. But be cautious by how many questions you ask; you don't want to fire off a thousand for the sake of keeping the conversation going. Besides, the person might be turned off by your over-the-top curiosity and think you're asking too much of them. Discern when and what to ask; the right ones can actually make for pleasant chat.

2. People appreciate it (for the most part)

When you approach someone, you come off as confident and respectful when you initiate first. The recipient generally feels good about themselves when they see others wanting to mingle with them. Instant confidence-booster, am I right? When people start conversations with me it's enough to turn my day around, and it's nice to know that people want to be in my company.

3. It passes the time

When you run into an acquaintance on campus and it turns out that you both have a couple of minutes to kill, it doesn't hurt to send a polite greeting and see what they're up to. Even though the conversation may last only a couple minutes, it beats staring at the ground and hoping that the minutes would crawl by faster.

4. Networking and connections

Small talk has practical benefits that all college students can relate to. Shout out to office hours, because I have learned to laugh at many a professor's corny joke to establish a good relationship (or to help bump a grade, whatever). Doors have been opened for me to connect with a bigger network simply because I went out of my way to reach out to my professors. Who would have known that asking my professor where he went to school would lead to a letter of recommendation?

5. It gets easier with practice

Start small by complimenting strangers on the street! Sure this may not officially count as small talk, but even that will build your confidence in actual future conversations. Once you get past the internal struggle of whether you should strike up a conversation or not, you realize that it wasn't as horrible as imagined. Don't use the introvert card to limit yourself from putting yourself out there. Do what you need to do to.

6. It makes you realize life around you

Taking the short time to put your technology away to socialize face-to-face is actually a good thing. It may be more comfortable to stay in our comfort zone and silently hope that someone didn't see you, but we weren't meant to simply live comfortable lives. Take advantage of the environment around you to expand your horizons.

So go ahead and ask that semi-stranger-classmate-acquaintance about the weather or comment about the traffic. You just might not know what you will discover.