The reason people don't care about your response is because they expect a stock response. Say something interesting and I promise people will care.
Try something like
"How are you" -> "Great! Stayed up until 5am last night, but I finally caught that damn bug."
As if by magic, real conversation starts. Either with a fellow geek who wonders what manner of interesting bug it was, or with a muggle wondering what could possibly make a person stay up that late.
The reason people don't care about your response is because they expect a stock response. Say something interesting and I promise people will care.
Try something like
"How are you" -> "Great! Stayed up until 5am last night, but I finally caught that damn bug."
As if by magic, real conversation starts. Either with a fellow geek who wonders what manner of interesting bug it was, or with a muggle wondering what could possibly make a person stay up that late.