I hope so, otherwise I’m fucked.

No, not at all! As you grow older, it may not be as automatic as when you are in school. Many of the people that you interact with might be focused on their own stuff (work, partner, family, hobbies, finance) and not too motivated to expand or even have a “social life” in whatever free time they have (if they even do). But this is not everyone. There is still a lot of people at every age that do want a social life, you just need to put in a bit of effort to connect with them.

And, a tip, do not consider failed attempts at socializing as a “failure” on your side. Perceived rejection often boils down to people being very attached to their free time, and socializing not being on their list of priorities. If you keep this in mind then you do not need to feel discomfort from rejection, and you can be active in your search for like-minded people without worry.

I was the same, then I went to a lot of places: classes at community college and community centers, worked in restaurants, cafes, retail stores, and stayed at Airbnbs that were crowded like hostels. Sometimes you get talking with a co-worker or roommate, then get invited to a party and maybe find new friendships there.

When I hear “social life”, “romantic”, and “platonic” right next to each other like that, I think “social life” is code for spitting game. If that’s the case I’ll let you know when I figure it out

Mid-20s is honestly the perfect time to start

Too late? No way! Success depends a lot on your expectations and sense of self, so I would encourage you to be in therapy to get those straight. We all need therapy, but now would be a good time for you, before starting a new way of life.

But no way. You are perfectly fine.

The most difficult part is keeping your privacy respected. Normals will require you congregate on some proprietary, data-thieving platform to participate.

My experience has been that you basically restart the process of building a new social circle every few years. Life circumstances change. People move away. Some relationships grow apart. Some start families. So there’s always going to be others in the same boat as you looking for new connections.

Dude, it’s literally never too late. x3

There’s old people fuck-a-thons in retirement homes for heaven’s sake, lol. And those people are almost a century old.

Get on meetup.com if you aren’t sure what’s out there, but there’s all sorts of fun stuff going on! Meetup is platonic.

Absolutely. I was an absolute loner for the better part of a decade. Then my depression just disappeared. I joined a community around a streamer and had loads of fun. Just find the intersection between your preferred subject (literary analysis, anime tiddies, etc.) and your preferred communication method. (Text forum, voice chat, real life meetings, etc.) You’ll find at least someone you can hang with, maybe more. Just go at it with openness and joy.

Nah. You can make friends at any age. Most of it comes down to showing interest in the person you want to befriend and asking them about themselves.

Imo as an ADHD person this world best for me. The hard part is finding the interesting person I wanna befriend. Most have happened casually through games or events. If you board game. Or pickle ball. Or shit join a cooking class. Good chance you’ll be interested in someone in the bunch.

It’s never too late.

13 of my 18 friends I found when I was 30-35… My dad made the same experience in his 50s. Friends come and go. It’s rather unusual to get to the end of your life with the same friends you had in school.

My 20s were complete garbage. I can’t remember most of what happened there because nothing ever happened. At the end I didn’t see any hope for myself and had some disturbing thoughts. But I’ve come around somehow and met my now best friends and many other nice people during my 30s. I owe them my life basically. Though I still have trouble finding romantic connection and I’m not trying anymore.

Where I meet people: At work, neighbors, hiking or board game groups

I think it’s important to get out and meet many different people, even without ever becoming friends. You learn social skills, you have more things to talk about with others, you feel more accepted in general, it’s a spiral upwards.

I’ve had close to 0 social life in high school and the first year of college.
What turned me around was joining a board game club.

What I’ve learned from this experience is that everyone
has a minimum and maximum amount of time and slots for friendships
and newcomers are the ones most likely with empty friendships slots.