this post was submitted on 02 Sep 2023
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Very common question but no one wants to hear the truth... You don't.
I hate to be the bearer of bad news but for the majority of people you kind of don't. The social situations where you might meet people in your you ger days are closing or have already closed.
School is usually a big one for most, but after a certain age, you're not likely to be in school any longer and if you are, then you'll be considerably older than others.
Work is another one, but recent trends work against that. People tend to work at places for a short period of time before they jump ship. Shorter period of time, short number of connections you might make. Also with the hysteria over sexual harassment, people tend to not want anything to do with finding close connections these days at work. And of course working from home is clearly the biggest killer. You're not going to connect with someone over a few Teams messages.
People tend to be less physically active as they get older, so meeting people on a team sport tends to be less common.
Lastly everything kind of snowballs. The less friends you have, the less friends-of-friends you might meet. And if you have some friends that are in a relationship, then forget about it. They'll want to spend time with their significant other, and god forbid they get married and have kids. You'll never see those people again unless you also have kids. I'm not painting a very positive picture here, but I think it's way more realistic than many want to admit.
This is incredibly cynical and untrue. There are plenty of ways to make friends around hobbies, but you do have to work at it, like most meaningful things. It also takes time. The internet can be isolating, but it also can bring people together via meetups and other avenues.