There are situations in communication when the interlocutor raises unpleasant, uninteresting or even some unethical questions. At the same time, the second person feels discomfort and unwillingness to continue the conversation, but he cannot think of anything, because he does not want to offend the interlocutor. In this case, you can try to subtly and imperceptibly change the topic of the conversation.
Manipulation
To change the subject of a conversation without saying “Let's change the subject,” you can use some techniques to manipulate others. Do not be afraid, this is not something from the category of dangerous gypsy manipulations. In this case, you just need to work on the effect of surprise, suddenness or overload of the interlocutor's consciousness.
You can just shut up. Silence in such a situation is even more gold than usual. The interlocutor will obviously be puzzled why the person kept up the conversation, and then suddenly fell silent. Accordingly, the desired effect will be achieved, since either he will begin to find out what happened, or he will change the subject.
You can, on the contrary, start talking, and speaking in a special way: either bring to the point of absurdity some thought expressed by the interlocutor, or make long pauses between words and speak monotonously, or speak very, very quickly, or add gestures and facial expressions to everything else. If the interlocutor does not "explode" the brain from overload, he will clearly want to stop the conversation, or at least change the topic to a more neutral one.
On the whole, a negative opinion has developed about manipulation in interpersonal interaction, but whether or not it is allowed in one's behavior is a private matter for everyone. If every day people are still manipulated from TVs, radios, internet sites and advertising posters, trying to manipulate others just to change the conversation no longer seems so terrible.
Tact
If you act tactfully, it is not always possible, of course, to achieve success, but your conscience will be clear, albeit at the cost of your own pleasure. It is generally considered the most tactful to say directly that you do not like this topic, but if you want to change the topic and not offend a person, you can try to apply some methods of active listening, albeit somewhat modified.
One of the important techniques of active listening - paraphrasing - can be directed to change the topic of conversation. So, you can start a phrase with the words "You mentioned that …", catch on to the most insignificant detail of the interlocutor's remark and direct the conversation in a different direction. Or praise the interlocutor in absentia: "You probably know a lot about …" and report something, even if not remotely related to the topic of the conversation. Surely a person will try to show that he really knows a lot about something. The main thing is that the new topic does not turn out to be even more viscous and unpleasant than the old one.
By the way
There is a wonderful word "by the way", which is used in conversations by the way and inappropriate, but it perfectly fulfills the function of changing the topic of conversation. Starting with her your remark, you can take the conversation in a completely different direction. Hearing something not very pleasant for yourself, you can easily say "By the way, have you read a book / watched a movie …?" and discuss the book or film, and not the original topic. "By the way" always works, however, you should not use it all the time, otherwise the person will suspect something was wrong.
