Most of the social gatherings I’ve been to have been set up with coworkers. Maybe I was conditioned by the American education system but I don’t think I’ve ever made a friend outside of a place that we both were expected to go to consistently. I’m not very familiar with constructs outside of that if I’m honest.
Yeah, I agree. That’s why I think loneliness would increase, being at work masks a pretty significant issue
That’s fair, my coworkers are really the only people I talk to. I don’t know how to make friends as an adult honestly. I don’t think I’m the only one in this boat
I worry that the widespread acceptance of work from home without any other societal changes will increase the level of loneliness. It’s a solution that has to come packaged with other quality of life enhancements or social trust is going into an even faster free fall. I wonder what a wfh/social solution would look like.
Edit: I’m not advocating for the office, I just think people like me wouldn’t do very well without other changes, and I think there are more people who don’t know how to make adult friends than we think. I’m not even an introvert, I just don’t go to any place often enough to make friends from it.
As a guy who luckily only had to deal with the shitty realm of PUA in the early 2000s, I will say that typically it’s not a bike crash that gets you in the road. It’s more like you stumble across some con man who says he can “pick up any girl he wants and he’ll show you how!” So being a young impressionable male you try the advice and it usually doesn’t work. That leads (me at least) down the path of misogyny and “nice-guy ness” (I’m very sorry, I’m better now), and bada boom you’ve got yourself a roganite.
I’ll turn him into a flea
A harmless little flea
Then I’ll put that flea in a box
Put that box inside of another box
And then I’ll mail that box to myself
And when it finally arrives…
Option number 2
Don’t get me wrong I have certainly had my fair share of bad work interactions but most were benign and some became friends. Although I’m not advocating for the office, I just think people like me wouldn’t do very well without other changes, and I think there are more people who don’t know how to make adult friends than we think. I’m not even an introvert, I just don’t go to any place often enough to make friends from it