In some situations, small talk inexorably leads towards a certain amount of acting and feeling self-conscious when curiosity is not kindled. It's a great way to break the ice and train your communication skills.
Small talk is much easier to deal with than gossip. NTs probably engage in as much small talk as other temperaments. How was your day at work? How are you feeling? The weather was splendid today, rain is forecast for tomorrow. Did you watch the show last night? Paula and Jim are getting married, etc. It is inevitable, and it goes hand in hand with living with others. All conversation cannot be on a "higher" plane. Small talk is the glue of society in a way.
The real challenge is dealing with gossip.
A great obstacle, whether I find myself in a situation of small talk about topics I find no interest in or any gossip, is to suppress the temptation of "pygmalionazing" - inviting the interlocutor to look at the big picture and to put into perspective elements whose superficial subtleties are strongly emphasized. In the case of gossip, I am often tempted to alleviate accusations and play devil's advocate by telling the chatterer to - here again - put things into perspective and respect the victim's individuality. Needless to say, this is annihilating the purpose of gossip and the original intention of the gossiper (stronger complicity, proximity) is ruined.
Advice for small talk: use your knowledge about a wide variety of topics and make the conversation very interesting by teaching the interlocutor new things, giving him insight. To avoid getting bored out of your mind, you can use your intuition to predict outcomes and you can for example add the data to your personality interaction possibility database.
I would really like to know some gossip coping techniques though...