The problem with trying to make friends "on your own" is that it's really uncomfortable. For many, chatting up someone at the bar is uncomfortable to begin with

The problem with trying to make friends "on your own" is that it's really uncomfortable. For many, chatting up someone at the bar is uncomfortable to begin with, but then asking them to hang out on a "friend date" later on is so much worse. The great thing about Krewe is that you have a group dynamic, which is much more comfortable since you're not forced to maintain a long conversation and there are no confused intentions. A person with the right personality will always be able to make lots of friends, but for the rest of us, it's much more difficult and frankly, might not even happen. 20% of Americans say they're lonely and the number of close friendships we have has been falling for years.