Hi, how are you?

Ever wondered why people say this?

"How are you?" is a conversation killer question. Still when you meet people they will always ask you the same question.
It makes the other answer a futile question and sounds as if the one asking the question does not have anything else to talk about.

Now if a very close friend of mine asks me this question, it will not create a comfortable environment to have a conversation in. My friend would know how I am and can easily make it out from the tone of my voice(if talking over a phone) or my facial expression.
The same goes for family.

Now at a workplace too its not a nice question to greet your co-workers with.
What happens is after some time instead of saying "Good morning, have a nice day" you start saying "Hi, how are you?" or "I am good, how are you?".

The greeting like "Good morning" or "Have a nice day" cannot be said after asking someone "How are you?" as it is question and it will need an answer. Today no one has the time to continue a conversation like that. They just meet people for something like 5 minutes or even less. So it would be better to make the best of that time and say something to the other like "Good morning" or "Have a nice day" rather than begin questioning him.

But I know tomorrow will be another day and I will greet someone saying saying "Good morning" and the reply I will get will be "hi, how are you?", so my day begins answering someones question. I too will after some time get out of my present habit of saying "Good morning" or "Have a nice day" and say "hi, how are you?".

The only good thing about this greeting is that it can be said at any time of the day. Even if you meet your roommate or flatmate right before going off to sleep. You would not even have to change it a little, the other one would change at different hours of the day.

So until I too get into the habit of saying "Hi, how are you?" ..........
"Have a nice day" till then