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Comment by vorpalhex | Hacker News Reader

As a reminder, you can still do those things. Have a weekly hangout day with friends with no firm plans. Spend time at hobbyist shops on the regular. Play board games with strangers.

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It's theoretically possible, but not really if you're honest.

People have gotten used to the isolation, so they're not gonna enjoy it if you randomly invite yourself literally every day of the week. You'll need like-minded friends and that's not something you can really "just decided" to change.

I didn't pick random examples, I just used my regular practices.

you’ll make new friends if you stick to it

The great thing about joining a club is that you know everyone there is already interested enough in the subject of the club to participate with you whenever they've availed their time to be at the clubhouse.

You don't have to drag your old friends out so much as make a couple new (low stakes, with boundaries at first, if you are anxious about it) friends.

I'm seconding what the others say. I see a few close friends 1-3 times a week in relatively unstructured or impulsive situations, and I also go to martial arts and latin dance clubs at no regular interval (although I should work on getting that back on a regular schedule), and play dungeons and dragons once a month. You can absolutely meet people with mutual interests in person, and it is worth pursuing regardless of whether you consider yourself an introvert or not.

The trick is to have a living room and a regular habit of hosting something like “Monday night in” where people come over and just hang out.

It can’t be scheduled. The crux of the whole thing is people can drop by at anytime and more importantly you have to genuinely like it. Can’t treat people dropping over as some sort of event.

I think a standing day is fine. It just has to be low pressure and loose plans.

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