U.S. Men Are Suffering A 'Friendship Recession'

[IronLionZion]

[SWBTATTReg]

1. I suspect that this is due to a lot of these guys not putting down the electronic games, and forcing

themselves to go out and interact socially more.

Instead, they rather grab the play station.

As 'MOM' (and/or 'DAD') would say, put down the damn game and go outside and play!

All of us (or most of us) already know that one must interact w/ the real world and see really how the world works, meet people etc.

[PortTack]

2. No pity...friendship takes work...don't want to put in the effort to make friends...then deal

[Lithos]

3. It is real

And has nothing to do with man-children refusing to go out and play. Rather, it is a function of where most men get their social networks which is work and at bars, both of which have changed as a result of COVID.

L-

[Warpy]

5. Beat me to it

"Lodge brothers" also filled the gap, but the men's organizations have fallen somewhat by the wayside, probably a good thing since they were so often used to exclude women from business.

It's not that they're escaping into video games, it's more that there's no longer a place to go that doesn't involve alcohol or religion. There needs to be someplace, preferably with at least a thin veneer of worthiness*, where they can meet away from women and children. We don't have to like it but they need it.



*to keep the cops away, of course.

[CBHagman]

4. For a transcript of Geoff Bennett's segment on the PBS NewsHour...

...which includes a look at a few reasons why some men are missing friendships and support networks, plus what people are doing about this situation, read here:

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/why-a-growing-number-of-american-men-say-they-are-in-a-friendship-recession

[Runningdawg]

6. I don't think most people are aware how much their job ties into their social life.

Working in the OR, no one worked those hours except other OR workers, so they became the group. But when I retired, I wasn't invited anymore. And POOF! 90% of "friendships" are gone. The remaining 10 live across the country, not nearby.
My husband worked around thousands on a college campus, interacted for 22 years with those in his department. That was HIS group. He changed jobs 6 months ago, and it's crickets. He's called and there were no call backs.
His new job, he never goes into an office. He works alone, miles and miles from any people.
Both his brothers and their wives are nurses, we see them once a year at Christmas brunch, even though they live less than 3 miles away.
Again, we invite, no call backs.
He's going through a transition I went through 5 years ago, it's rough as hell and it doesn't get any better.

At least we have each other, so many have no one.

[Crowman2009]

7. I don't have many friends, but I'm not complaining.

Last thing I need right now is to be dragged into other people's BS.