Being a good listener

You can program AI chatbots to be advice heavy or advice light. Sometimes you just want someone to listen. Sometimes you want their advice. As a listener it can be hard to distinguish at times. But I think to be a good listener, even if the speaker doesn’t want your advice, it helps to think of the advice you would give.

If the speaker really doesn’t want the advice you can leave it at that. You can be their earpiece. But if you feel some leeway, then something as simple as ‘would it help if…’ can make a world of difference. And now that you’ve already thought of the advice, you can give a more thoughtful answer.