[Retric]

Friendship can also be an economic net positive, it mostly depends on how you’re interacting. Watching each other's kids at home creates extra free time. Having an extra hand and different set of tools when working on home projects is a net gain which means you can be better off while helping each other etc.

However, so much of how people spend their free is consumptive that hanging out has become increasingly expensive.

[KittenInABox]

> Watching each other's kids at home creates extra free time.

Not a thing if no one has free time because everyone has to work.

> Having an extra hand and different set of tools when working on home projects is a net gain which means you can be better off while helping each other etc.

Again, who has the money to have tools? Who has the money to work on home projects? Have you seen the cost of construction materials lately?

[Retric]

Not having any tools is far more expensive because now you’re always paying for labor and parts not just parts.

As to things being more expensive that’s in part an illusion. Things where more affordable in the 1950’s when homes where 1,000sf, there was no cable bill, no cellphones, no internet, and no PC etc and that still represented a far higher standard of living than what came before.

I’m not advocating for giving up modern convince, just recognizing the slow shift from luxury to expected has real costs.