If someone actually does want to socialize in this day and age, what would they do?

[Benjamin3000]

Like for every sport I've asked anyone about, no one knows of a place to play, but if you just try to ask about what sport does have a local venue to meet people, everyone draws a blank.

And yet somehow, without a local 3rd place, there aren't any people who know of a website or app that they or any of their friends would want to use - or even a way to find reviews of apps to screen out the worst ones.

I mean, there must be at least one person that doesn't work somewhere that's conducive to making friends with your coworkers - what would they do?

 

[faithlife]

If you're talking sports, the city park usually has games going on, they do here. You might google local churches around you, some are into sports esp if there's a school on the campus. Happy hunting, hope you find the perfect fit.

 

[HealthAndHappiness]

Like for every sport I've asked anyone about, no one knows of a place to play, but if you just try to ask about what sport does have a local venue to meet people, everyone draws a blank.

And yet somehow, without a local 3rd place, there aren't any people who know of a website or app that they or any of their friends would want to use - or even a way to find reviews of apps to screen out the worst ones.

I mean, there must be at least one person that doesn't work somewhere that's conducive to making friends with your coworkers - what would they do?

I would visit Bible Believing churches to find friends. The first Person I would try to develop friendship with is the Lord Jesus.
See Here<
No church is perfect, but two things going for the saved ones is that:

A. You will find others who have a common interest in the Lord and learning His Word.
B. A real face to face friendship is most likely to grow. Online friends are real. They can be blessings indeed as I have learned here, but it can take a long time to get aquatinted and develop it.

You seem interested in sports.
I used to post the community leagues and thousands of people were involved. It all depends on the sport and the available organization in your area. Cities are far more likely because of population. Have you thought about starting a Facebook group and other social media venues?

 

[Benjamin3000]

I would visit Bible Believing churches to find friends. The first Person I would try to develop friendship with is the Lord Jesus.
See Here<
No church is perfect, but two things going for the saved ones is that:

A. You will find others who have a common interest in the Lord and learning His Word.
B. A real face to face friendship is most likely to grow. Online friends are real. They can be blessings indeed as I have learned here, but it can take a long time to get aquatinted and develop it.

You seem interested in sports.
I used to post the community leagues and thousands of people were involved. It all depends on the sport and the available organization in your area. Cities are far more likely because of population. Have you thought about starting a Facebook group and other social media venues?

I've yet to find a church where there's a group effort that involves people in my age group. Even as I've transitioned from my 20s to my 30s. I do understand how someone with kids or a married couple would have less free time, but those wouldn't be the ones who would join a group. Which basic logic says that the people with more free time to join a group would do so.

Unfortunately being able to go beyond sports or beyond the church doesn't really open up even one door. Like if you wanted to share a work in progress, you can't choose an art form that's attractive to young adults, or the middle age who's closer to me now than a "young adult" group would have been.

Basically when I've found an already 'existing' group on Facebook or Meetup, if there's actually scheduled events to imply that it still exists, and people asking the group leaders about it, you could go to multiple of their events only to come up empty every time. But if it's a public venue where the event "exists" on their paper calendar, it's the same deal, everybody has to pretend they're going and then not actually show up.

Like at a local gym that had a basketball 'pick up group' none of the attendants even knew it existed. I showed up anyway but 20 minutes past the start time no one was even there to play with.

If I choose something that can both be done by yourself and with a group, even something that has already existing events, doesn't even have people who want to simply discuss the activity on the group page, whatever it may be. And that's without expecting someone online who simply discusses the activity to actually want to do it together with you.

 

[HealthAndHappiness]

I've yet to find a church where there's a group effort that involves people in my age group. Even as I've transitioned from my 20s to my 30s. I do understand how someone with kids or a married couple would have less free time, but those wouldn't be the ones who would join a group. Which basic logic says that the people with more free time to join a group would do so.

Unfortunately being able to go beyond sports or beyond the church doesn't really open up even one door. Like if you wanted to share a work in progress, you can't choose an art form that's attractive to young adults, or the middle age who's closer to me now than a "young adult" group would have been.

Basically when I've found an already 'existing' group on Facebook or Meetup, if there's actually scheduled events to imply that it still exists, and people asking the group leaders about it, you could go to multiple of their events only to come up empty every time. But if it's a public venue where the event "exists" on their paper calendar, it's the same deal, everybody has to pretend they're going and then not actually show up.

Like at a local gym that had a basketball 'pick up group' none of the attendants even knew it existed. I showed up anyway but 20 minutes past the start time no one was even there to play with.

If I choose something that can both be done by yourself and with a group, even something that has already existing events, doesn't even have people who want to simply discuss the activity on the group page, whatever it may be. And that's without expecting someone online who simply discusses the activity to actually want to do it together with you.

I understand your frustration.
You are certainly searching.
I've run into similar issues when I was trying to get into activities that we used to do at our independent Baptist Church I used to attend. We had backpacking and caving trips for teenages. Parents and single adults attended as councilors and support. Then there were those who got together with other like faith churches to play softball and basketball. There were enough active members to make it happen, which is not the case with smaller churches.
It's still nice to have a buddy to go mountain biking with or fishing though.

I would call the local large churches. Some of them have gymnasiums but don't advertise.
That was the case of an evangelical mega church that I used to attend. There were groups outside the church that used the gym.

If you haven't thought about it, there are city/county/corporate parks in every city. You should call and ask for the Activities Director. The secretaries sometimes don't know details, but can put you through to the right person.