This is weird to me because I feel like it's easier than ever to have a social life. Looking on Facebook, Meetup, etc. I can easily find local groups that matc

This is weird to me because I feel like it's easier than ever to have a social life. Looking on Facebook, Meetup, etc. I can easily find local groups that match my interests. There's a local Ruby group, gaming groups, tennis and other casual sports leagues, and so on. Social media is actually pretty cool for that when used judiciously. My wife and I -- despite not being particularly glamorous or anything -- actually experience a fair bit of anxiety due to having more social possibilities than we could ever really say "yes" to. We've got long-time friends in the area and I meet a fair number of people that make me think, "I bet I could be pretty good friends with that person, if my slate wasn't full already...." I think the big change from previous decades is that social interaction is more focused. It's more interest-based. Yes, there's less of that "sit on your porch in the evening and talk to your neighbors as they walk by" and "get to know your local postal clerk on a first-name basis" kind of thing, and something good has definitely been lost there. Perhaps the ultimate result to all of this is that all of this is that while it's easier than ever to make friends... it's also easier to fall through the cracks. There's crazy levels of social interaction out there, tailored to your interests, if you reach out and do it... but unlike the old days, it ain't gonna reach out and grab you. I imagine that in the old days, you sat on your porch/stoop on summer evenings and your neighbors may or may not have strolled by and settled in for a beer or glass of lemonade or whatever, including Fred and Betty from down the street who also might have mentioned that they're looking for more couples to join their bowling league or some such thing. It's sad that doesn't happen any more, but I bet there were also a lot of nights when nobody strolled by, and perhaps Fred and Betty were jerks anyway and maybe you didn't really want them to stop by. That was also a shit way to find very specific interests like a local Ruby group or a local group of transgender Civil War reenactment aficionados or whatever. So, some things have been lost, and some things gained.