Ask HN: How has working remotely for long periods affected your social skills?
My partner and I both work remotely. We are lucky to be close to downtown Vancouver. We can take a SeaBus into town and venture to one of the many co-working facilities if we feel we would like to work in a more bustling environment. My partner has a dedicated desk at WeWork. I prefer the home office because I love being around our plants and I am prone to random bouts of meditation.<p>Remote working has allowed me to flourish socially. I have a recreational hockey team, we are part of a nice Yoga community, and given that we spend lots of time around our neighbourhood, we have met many friends, from the lady who cleans our building to the dude who owns the coffeeshop. Soon, I will be volunteering at the local hospice.<p>When you decouple social contact from work, the onus is on you to find a healthy replacement with the extra time and flexibility that remote life affords you. As is often the case when starting something new, you may find the first leap into a new social scene to be a harrowing experience. But it is rewarding! Much of this is because we live an urban life-style. I imagine being in a sub-urban neighbourhood might be much tricker to manage, as the people and amenities are further away. Consider how likely you are to stay working remotely. Perhaps a more &quot;vibrant&quot; area of town that allows you to walk to wonders might suit you better?<p>As an interim solution, my partner and I have both found that scheduling purely social calls, or &#x27;no agenda, just banter&#x27; group video chats to be a fruitful means of connecting with the people with which we work.