Do people really have an inner dialogue?

My inner dialogue is always on. I have entire conversations with myself. I honestly can't imagine how life would be without it. It is so active, clear, and constant that I rarely have conversations with other people, especially small talk, because I've already had the various conversations in my head.

Stranger standing in line with a cool t-shirt with an obscure band I enjoy.

Dialog: "Introduce yourself"

Dialog: "Say, 'Hey, cool shirt. I'm a huge fan...'"

Dialog: "They'll say something like, 'nice, they are super obscure. I found it at the <place>'"

Dialog: "You'll probably follow up with 'I'll have to check it out sometime' and they'll feel awkward with the small talk and be infront of the line ready to make their order and then go separate ways. Forget it, wasted too much time."

Dialog: "So what are we doing today?"

/r/TooAfraidToAsk Thread