You can always politely (or less politely) say you’re busy if that happens. Conversation with strangers is becoming a lot art in some of the US.[/quote]
A few months back I went running in mission bay park and around fiesta Island for the first time in decades. It was mid day.
I smiled and waved at most of the runners bikers, walkers etc. The response was terrible. I think maybe two people managed some kind of greeting. By the end I was finding it amusing, but very sad too! I wondered to myself….are they all on drugs?