The idea of people or groups of people siloing themselves into their ultra-convenient homes and never interact with others is a dystopia and a sure sign of an already broken community.
I don't see any reason why people couldn't adjust from meeting friends at restaurants to hosting friends at home instead. (Unless, of course, your living space is limited)
If you aren't cooking and cleaning up after, what's the difference between that and meeting someone at a restaurant?
1) You get out of your house.
2) You don't have leftovers from a big meal to deal with.
3) You can duck out early without having to kick everyone out..
4) you can fit a LOT more people at a restaurant.
I wonder if you realise how dystopian your life already is to consider this question reasonable.
There is a difference between a co-located set of siloed people and a community. The inability to recognise this means your community is already broken.
If I wanted that, I would go to a bar instead, which is a separate conversation from the one we were having.
However, I don't think I would be so bold as to call either of our lifestyles 'broken'. That feels like a needless attack.
In the US, I think it would be hard to say that most people go to restaurants for social benefits.
Ironically, this reads to me like a rather American thing. Simply based on typical dwelling size. There's a lot of nights at a restaurant (or cheaper: some venue specializing in space + some catering for groups instead of the full restaurant experience) I could buy for the cost of keeping a dining room able to host a non-tiny group of friends around all year. In American sprawl, with those hardly-more-than-cardboard construction standards? Sure, no problem.
You are a silly person, what does this even have to do with cooking? Sorry America has got you so upset.
Do you even have a counterpoint to what I said beyond your weird hate for America? Most of the places I have traveled and lived in around the world, most people are not going out to eat for socializing but for the elimination of the labor and time it takes to cook the same meal at home. Sure socialization can play a role but thats not the prime value.
Taking a long tour along the neighborhood, to see what I want to buy first hand before pulling the trigger, or seeing an old friend and getting a nice coffee at that café are all valid reasons to go out.
Getting fresh air, regularly walking, seeing a couple of different and unknown faces are regular maintenance tasks for the body and brain.
I don't think humans should hole up at their homes and work/doom scroll/eat/doom scroll/sleep/repeat just because they can. That's unhealthy for every aspect of your body and life to begin with.
IMO it's not so bad. I don't miss grocery shopping. I do miss walking to work up Powell St.
I do know my neighbors though, and talk to them on a pretty regular basis. I don't like sports especially, but I also do have some recreational hobbies that get me outside.
