Last year, Alexandra Pitzer, 33, paid $290 to meet strangers through Real Roots, a friendship matching app. After relocating from Nashville to Honolulu for her husband's Army job, she joined a group of eight women at a brewery and quickly bonded, continuing meetups after the package ended.
Fueled by a loneliness epidemic and increasingly online lifestyles, more people are paying start-ups like Real Roots, 222, and Timeleft to make friends offline. These apps remove the strain of online dating by eliminating profiles, swiping, and scheduling. Users fill out surveys covering background, interests, values, and even sense of humor.
The apps' algorithms match users with small groups based on characteristics like age and survey answers. Events range from restaurant meetups to bus trips for hikes, dumpling-making classes, or shuffleboard. Once paid, users simply show up.
A 2024 study by the Making Caring Common Project at Harvard found 67% of adults report social-emotional loneliness, with 45% saying they don't know how to develop close friendships. In August, 25-year-old Sylvia Le paid around $170 to attend a mountain day-trip organized by 222 after moving to New York.
Source: New York Times Top Stories · Summarized by HeadlinesBriefing