Good points in my opinion. The rise of the ironically named "social media" has been a huge negative for actual social interactions. I rather suspect it has helped increase the lack of in person socializing. You can use it to discover local in person social groups - I attend meetings for my sporting, philosophical, work area, and ex-pat communities - but that is probably not the norm. Way too many keyboard warriors like my wife who hardly get out and find the church their only social outlet (thankfully not my wife).

I attend a group called beer not god - it's an eclectic group from lifetime atheists, young and old, to recent cult escapes - quite a few are estranged from their families and former communities.

In England for many "the pub" is their "church". They have them everywhere. Going to the pub is a social event. There isn't the same stigma with it like being a lifetime bar fly in America. You can take your family, have Sunday lunch in the garden, play games, yak the night away, etc. For villages that didn't have a pub they used to have social clubs which basically did the same. Not sure if they still exist much though.

And more local community participation - religion free - would definitely be a good path IMO. However it seems like wherever there is free association of people the religious are out preying on the vulnerable (and praying for them). I don't know what you do about that other being better at helping each other. Unfortunately that's hard and not something everyone is good at or has the time and patience for. The harder up the majority of people are the harder it is to find time to help and support others. Inequity in society just seems to feed people right into the hands of religion as a spiritual bread and circuses solution to everything our wealthy and powerful masters have burdened us with.

@prometheus I had a friend in college, who told me when he lived in San Francisco, there used to be a gay bar called "The Church". He said it allowed him (and his friends) to tell his (their) mother(s) he (they) went to church every Sunday. They just didn't mention the happy hour part.

In Portland Oregon, which has a ton of microbreweries, there is a Meetup.com group called "Queers and Craft Beers". They meetup at micro-brew pubs to socialize, and they also do fundraisers for local charities.

I think they neighborhood bar has been a place to socialize for atheists for quite a while. Up until the lock down, I'd visit my local pub at least three times a month. The only people I knew though was the wait staff.

I tend to agree with "social media" has made people less social. A virtual conversation is just not as satisfying as a real face to face conversation. Also, you learn a lot more about a person by seeing how they carry themselves, and interact with others than you do from a profile.

I remember before th einernet, bck when you actually had to meet people in person, and I managed to meet a lot mroe persons I considered to be of quality than I have using dating sites and social media. In fact all my "committed relationships were (started) before the internet. Of course in the middle of my last rel;ationship, I started to go blind, which means the internet is probably not as much of a factor.

@snytiger6 "The Church"... That's sneaky. Given how many bars are in churches these days (my niece had her wedding reception in one) more of us could use that line.

@FrankA that's more like I was thinking of. Or to carry on the water metaphor, if religion is carried by mosquitoes then drain the swamps and give everyone free mosquito nets.