I’ve WFH’d for about 8 years now and have loved it, but have also heard so many times how it can lead to social isolation, and I can definitely see how that hap

I’ve WFH’d for about 8 years now and have loved it, but have also heard so many times how it can lead to social isolation, and I can definitely see how that happens. I also didn’t start it until I was in my 30’s when I’d already had the benefit of working together with people and building a strong social network of friends and colleagues (and the skills to continue making new ones). I think with a more remote-focused industry, it still makes sense to have coworking and neighborhood satellite offices. I think coworking was just a bit ahead of it’s time. The set wave really started breaking with COVID. It might be a little tougher trying to complain about your code or describe your refactor to someone at another company altogether. But it could also be nice to have a completely disinterested (in corporate terms) party who can lend a sympathetic ear. Meetups were already a thing but I’ve petered out on them, not sure if that’s a personal or widespread phenomenon. But I do crave that again. I’ve been wanting to start a book club, as well. The two aren’t entirely mutually exclusive. Sometimes old things can be new again. I also miss attending tech conferences and am looking at some this year. And I know this idea has been done to death, but I also very much value my time at my community garden and athletic clubs (not a gym–a community organization). Doing clinics at both have introduced me to new people to continue enjoying the respective activities, as well as just making general friends that enrich each others’ lives. I used to think social media could help with this kind of stuff but Corporate Social Media fell flat on that promise for me. The only social media I use now are this site, mailing lists for said organizations, and text/calls on my iPhone. Maybe we need a speed-dating thing for making new acquaintances. Online people talk so much about social anxiety, we need to get comfortable with putting ourselves out there and embrace the fact that things might get weird. Sometimes that makes it interesting, and sometimes that is a good thing.