Depends on circumstances a lot. It’s easy if you’re in college/work with similar people. Otherwise it might be hard to start, especially if you don’t have a lot of free time.

I moved a lot alone and had to make a new social life a lot. during school, for high school, for college, then jobs, then moved country. Except for last one where I knew a few people every other case I had 0 friends carried over. Hardest to have a social life was during the time I was working on jobs as the ability to meet new people decreased a lot.

So basically it is hard when you don’t goto college and job where you are forced to spend time with people, but that can also sometimes makes it hard to hangout with the same people outside of work.

So far things that have worked out for me:

• People with same interest that you randomly meet sometimes.
• keep your social media connected and when you see stories of people doing things you like strike a conversation about it. Don’t force to have full convo, just say your piece about that story and leave it be if it doesn’t go any farther. Small talks just sharing some sentences are good starting points. If it happens a few time with same person you might find someone you have common things with.
• try some group activities that doesn’t have to have a lot of talking. Something you can be present there just doing your thing, it could be local recreational sports group, volunteering, library, etc.
• friends of friends, statistically your friends in average have more friends than you, so just hangout with them in group activities, and try to make new connections. You have to start somewhere.
• online friends, sometimes it just helps to have people to talk to, careful on who you’re hanging out with, but fandoms and such online are good to make friends that you can talk to without responsibilities of maintaining a relationship. It’ll help you be more open on sharing your interests.

No its not too late

My most social years were in my 30’s!

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.

Of course you can, it just requires more work. Find a group of like-minded people by joining a evening class; group training; volunteer at an event; etc…

It requires a lot of effort, but it’ll be worth it in the end.

no, if you had the ability to create one and chose not to.

also no, if you didn’t have the ability, realize that and start working at the reasons why. (in my case it turned out to be autism).

A good way is to find a meetup group with some shared interest. It doesn’t really matter what so long as the crowd is good and you know enough to hold a conversation in the subject.

Find a hobby you like and look for local groups of people / classes in that hobby. With time you will make personal connections with people in that group.

Could be workouts, activism, trekking, board games, knitting, book club, debates. Anything that does not involve staring at a screen.

I hope so, otherwise I’m fucked.

I had a social life in college, but in my early 20s I moved across the country and had to start from scratch. So I knew how to be friends with people but not how to make friends.

Of course it’s possible. You can make friends at any age. Just don’t look to tv and movies to define what a “social life” is. It’ll probably be more sparse and less stable than sitcoms would have you believe.

The best way to start is to take up a hobby that involves interacting with real people.

Mid 20s? You’re barely out of your teenage years, of course you can. Now if anyone has some tips for mid 40s…

Mid-20s is honestly the perfect time to start

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.

As someone mentioned before: play boardgames. The nice thing is you don’t need any cause we gamers already have plenty and are always looking for people to play with.

Also go volunteering. You’ll meet people of different ages, genders and backgrounds. I myself volunteer in a youth centre in my neighbourhood. Initially I knew no one on the streets. Now people recognise me, teens and parents alike, say hello and acknowledge me. I myself like this. It makes the neighbourhood feel more welcoming and save. Initially I „hid“ behind our counter having a save distance between me and the teens until I felt comfortable and feeling like I can intrude their space. It takes time. But it is worth it.

Maybe at 120’s it is too late, but I wouldn’t be too sure about that.