I don't think it can be entirely blamed on oneself or stagnant routines – making friends is a two way street, and I find more often than not the other party jus

I don't think it can be entirely blamed on oneself or stagnant routines – making friends is a two way street, and I find more often than not the other party just isn't that interested. I tend to go out a lot on my own, and over the past three years or so I've made maybe two friends. Not close friends mind you, but people I feel comfortable shooting a message out of the blue just to see if they want to meet up and shoot the breeze. During the same three years however, I've made a conscious effort to meet new friends but it's a hard shell to penetrate. People already have their circles, or maybe they think you have ulterior motives (e.g. "I already have a partner" or "we're not looking to hire".) It seems to me that as people grow into their 30s, they grow cynical to the point of almost closing themselves off. I have a much easier time making friends who are in the 40s or 50s, or younger people in their 20s – neither group which I can really feel entirely comfortable just hanging out with. I've taken up video games over the past year. It's hard to find quality conversation while shooting imaginary characters on screen, but at least I've been able to find enough people that there's at least one or two people online that I can have a casual conversation with while mashing buttons. This helps somewhat, but it's a far cry from in-person social interaction.