...especially when you have real responsibilities and come from a small family. When did you make most of your friends?...probably when you were in school or college...and a lot of that is because you had no choice. You HAD to be around those people. You didn't have the money to do whatever you wanted. After I got my first good-paying job, I could take my girlfriend out wherever. I could afford a nice setup for watching movies and playing video games. I could do anything I wanted...go anywhere, buy anything, pursue whatever interested me. Before then, my apt kinda sucked. I couldn't afford infinite games and the best graphics cards. I had less freedom of schedule. I had a very large group of people across many classes I had to be around and vice versa, so more opportunities to bond with more diverse people. Also, when you get a job, you're only forced to socialize with your team...people all working on the same project, probably with similar backgrounds. Post-pandemic, I talk to most individuals outside my team maybe once a month. In the office, I'd see them daily and say hi and keep up with them, and have low-stakes conversations while waiting for coffee or a microwave to heat up our lunch or while eating. I could see someone is bored and strike up a conversation with no reason...and far more struck up meaningless conversations with me. Now, I need a reason to talk to a coworker and vice versa...which only happens for the first 5 min of a call for someone I had to talk to for some reason. Also, my wife and her friends are neurotypical (I've got Asperger's). They used to hang out post-college. That shit stopped once they had kids. They used to hang out once a month. Now it's like 2-4x a year. My neighbors are of similar age...same thing happened. They'd have people over ALL the time, like every other weekend, blocking our driveway often...popped out a kid 5 years ago...now only their parents visit. They love going into the office to socialize with people who aren't relatives. Boredom, relation, and necessity are the main source of friendships. When you're affluent enough not to NEED anything from anyone, it is a barrier to friendship. When you're busy, you have a lot of barriers for bonding...conflicting schedules, being tired when you're free, etc. Have kids and a career...I think you'll find yourself more dependent on office friendships than you'd really like to be. You'll find it's hard to make new friends and your existing friends get busy just like you...and move all over the place. Maybe when my kids are older, I can make more friends...that happened to my parents and in-laws and a few older coworkers...but when your kids need you constantly...good luck making friends outside work.