One thing I tried at first was to organize a shared workspace for friends, where we'd get an office somewhere near our homes, rather than downtown, and come in

One thing I tried at first was to organize a shared workspace for friends, where we'd get an office somewhere near our homes, rather than downtown, and come in to the same shared space so we could hang out and shoot the shit. It was very hard to settle on the right location that wouldn't just create a new commuting challenge for everyone, and office space (and parking) is not cheap. I eventually found an okay spot, but COVID quarantining put an end to that. I imagine office space is cheaper now, but I have not had a strong urge to try again. I do agree that it's isolating. But only during work hours. After work, and on the weekends, I see people a lot more than I did when I was in the office. Overall, I feel like I get more social time than before, but it's with people and in situations I choose. And I also get a lot more breaks in between, which I like.