Description:
Since going fully remote, I’ve noticed it’s harder to maintain friendships, especially with former colleagues, and definitely harder to make new friends. Without the office ‘hub’, how are people keeping their social lives from shrinking?
3 Answers
I moved to remote work two years ago and at first I was thrilled. I told myself I'd be more productive, wore sweatpants every day and celebrated with wine at 3PM. Then I realized my calendar was full of meetings but my social life shrank to GIF-s in Slack. One night I tried to recreate happy hour by hosting a 30 minute "show-and-tell" where people brought one small odd thing from their apartment. It was messy and someone accidentally joined with a filter that made them a potato, but it worked.
Here is a different take that helped: stop treating socializing like calendar time and build tiny shared rituals and artifacts. Start a communal playlist, a rotating short story pick a weekly 5photo exchange, or a group voice note thread where each person records one minute about their week. These low friction shared things create continuity without big commitments. Focus on fewer friendships and deepen them with recurring micro-habits. Also aim to meet locally when possible in neutral third places like a cafe or walk. Try one small ritual and see who sticks.
Remote kills casual friction. You compensate by inventing small, repeatable rituals that don't need calendars. Try asynchronous stuff. Weekly voice notes, a shared playlist, a photo-of-the-week thread. No video required. Pair that with one regular walking date. Teach a short micro-workshop to coworkers. Some friendships will fade. Fine. Deepen the ones that survive. Less noise. More signal.
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