I'm not sure what your conversations of "substance" were, nor the substantive topics involved.

Looking back, my third-space convos were either

• sports; or avoiding that pseudo-relationship people have with their chosen team
• jobs, which can only be so much complaining before it needs to be about something exciting and positive that isn't NDA-covered
• politics; which we get enough of and we all generally agree the US is gonna change radically soon and hope it's with guillotines
• TV shows and other gossip
• how about that weather - and its substantive sibling "how fucked is the climate for the remainder of our lifespan and why is that clown allowing diesel powered DCs"
• anyone cooked anything - and its sibling "how 'bout them grocery prices thanks to the amazing economic power weilded by that clown"

Unless they drop another season of The Littlest Hobo, I'm out of chat material. We just didn't talk about important philosophical stuff with the easy-breezy flow of a coffee house.

I'm prepared for the No True Scot response so, if you go that route, try and dress it up a bit.