The never-ending months of the coronavirus pandemic in 2020 and 2021 has forced many men to recognize the superficiality of their “friendships” and see the need for something more substantial. Time with the guys was normally spent talking football and numerous other shallow discourses. Family, personal relationships, and how they were really doing was rarely if ever brought up.

Men have always avoided seeming needy and vulnerable. It is not the manly thing to do. Numerous studies have shown the only emotional intimacy for many men is with the women in their lives.

Professor Geoffrey Greif recently authored a book about male friendship. Male friendships are often “shoulder-to-shoulder” interactions, such as watching sports or playing video games, “while women’s interactions are more face-to-face, such as grabbing a coffee. ... Because of this, many men have probably had a harder time than women figuring out how to adapt their friendships in a pandemic that is keeping them apart.”

An in-depth piece in The Washington Post said,

Dozens of men shared stories about Zoom poker games, neighborhood-dad WhatsApp chains, and Fantasy Football leagues where casual chats about sports and politics have suddenly led to deep conversations — about the struggles of virtual schooling, family illness, breakups, births, wedding postponements and job losses. ... Some men said their friendships have begun to look more like those of their wives and girlfriends. For the first time in their lives, they’re going on walks with male friends just to catch up. They’re FaceTiming old college friends and checking in on neighbors — not only to talk about the NBA draft picks or their children’s soccer schedule — but to ask how they’re doing.