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I've noticed a huge rise in people staring a response with "to be honest" or just "honestly".

A large number of my sentences begin with "To be [adjective]" or "In all [noun]".

"To be fair" and "In all honesty" (and combinations thereof) come up quite a bit.

Do you talk like that as well?

I used to pepper my comments with phrases like "to be honest" but I never use it in speech. I've tried to eliminate it recently because it usually isn't needed.

Yes, I do that in speech and written text. "However" is another one I use a lot.

For me, I think phrases like "however" and "to be fair" may come up a lot because I actively try to remain objective in conversations, and now I subconsciously add those into what I say as an indicator of considering different viewpoints. Then again, I may just be over-analyzing it.

(While we're at it, add "then again" to that list, haha.)

Oh jeez. However is something I do too.

There's a fair chance that you're meeting an increasing number of liars, then, as research (have a google) clearly shows that 'honestly' often precedes a lie, or at least shadings or untruth.

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