Post Reports How to make – and keep – friends
18 snips
Jan 19, 2026 Billy Baker, a journalist and author of 'We Need to Hang Out,' explores the crucial role friendship plays in our health and happiness. He discusses the loneliness epidemic and shares research connecting strong friendships to better mental and physical well-being. Baker urges listeners to prioritize friendship daily and suggests creating predictable social routines. He emphasizes vulnerability in making connections and using shared interests as 'velvet hooks' to foster new bonds. Maggie Penman illustrates this by inviting a colleague to be friends.
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Friendship Is A Public-Health Priority
- Friendship is essential for health and happiness and deserves explicit prioritization in adult life.
- Many people experienced worsening isolation during COVID, which clarified friendship's importance.
Assignment Sparked A Personal Friendship Project
- Billy Baker took a reporting assignment about male loneliness that led him to reassess his own friendships.
- His article went viral and eventually became the book We Need to Hang Out.
You Can't Live In The Past
- People often default to reconnecting with past friends but must also build friendships where they currently live.
- Baker realized 'the past is a nice place to visit, but you can't really live there.'
