I feel that. It feels all the socials “wells or waterholes” have dried up, and everything’s migrated to apps. I know some young people complain about the same regarding dating: you have to be on a dating app as trying to approach people outside them seem suspect… Meanwhile the culture on this apps can be atrocious, and favour the lowest common denominator…

/rant

On the more constructive side: I play the numbers game, I guess. I socialize with everyone and participate in anything I feel remotely interesting, when moving to a new place or similar. Visiting cafes, art sites, local clubs for this and that, sport events. And yeah, I used to hit the pubs. Then I just interact - not /to make friends/ explisitely, but just as part of me being normal. In the end, after talking with everyone, everywhere I go, you probably have interacted with hundreds of people, and you can of end with a handful that you hang out with from there. It just kind of happens.

Just to be clear, I’m not trying to do this in a (very) forced or creepy way, just in a way I feel is natural and “totally normal”, at least to me. E.g. at a gallery looking at a picture, if I really like the picture, and I see someone else studying it - and they don’t look aloof or like they would mind - I carefully try to strike up a chat. If they signal they don’t want, I disengage.

But, yeah, I find the lack of non-drinking meeting places a drag…