[wdhilliard]

This feels like a heavy-handed response to me. Socializing in the office doesn't need to be a substitute, but can be one many missing pieces in a well-rounded social life. Many of the ways people found a social life outside of work are either still not available or not the same. I used to love working from the coffee shop down my block. There were often around 50 people working in there at any given time of day, but the chairs and tables are still stacked against the wall, and people come inside only to get their coffee and go back home. Even finding conversation in a crowded bar can seem more difficult as people are still keep physical distance from people they do not know.

[bart_spoon]

That's because grabbing coffee from a cafe isn't an activity focused on actually socializing. Work forces you to do so because You can't seriously expect to get coffee, sit down and work on a laptop and expect to meet people. Socializing requires some amount of effort, and means going to a place or activity where you can actually meet someone.

* Volunteer as part of a local organization

* Find a meetup based on a personal interest (foreign language, programming, art, gaming)

* Join an athletic group (biking, running, hiking, martial arts)

* Go to an activity sponsored by your library (my library has everything from workshops on things like gardening and meditation, to a maker-space, to a Hamilton-sing along choir. Lots of libraries have activities like this).

* Find an open source project to contribute to

* Religious (or even slightly spiritual)? Find a local church you enjoy

You are definitely right about the cafe/bar/club being a terrible place for meeting people. But there's lots of places in most communities where you can still socialize that aren't work.

[Apocryphon]

What about meeting people through volunteering or by even joining an open source project?

[altpaddle]

I guess it's just more efficient to try and make friends with people that you already have to hang out with 40 hours a week. People are lazy and making friends as an adult is difficult

[bart_spoon]

That's fine, except it goes back to the original point that you are essentially forcing a culture of in-person work unnecessarily on everyone, because a portion of people are either too lazy or otherwise incapable of socializing with anyone outside of work.