Journal · long-form essays
Long-form essays on friendship, personality, and privacy.
Adult friendship. The Big Five personality model. End-to-end encrypted messaging. The loneliness epidemic. Each post is stand-alone — no newsletter funnel, no upsell. Read what interests you, leave the rest.
- Apr 11, 2026/journal/how-to-make-friends-after-30
How to make friends after 30 — the 2026 playbook
Adult friendship is a logistics problem dressed as a personal failing. Here's the actual playbook for making friends in your 30s, 40s, and beyond.
- Apr 8, 2026/journal/adult-loneliness-statistics-2026
Adult loneliness in 2026 — every statistic you need, sourced
1 in 5 adults has no close friends. Mortality risk equals 15 cigarettes/day. Here's the full citation stack on the loneliness epidemic.
- Apr 5, 2026/journal/what-the-big-five-actually-predicts
What the Big Five personality traits actually predict
Friendship, marriage, job performance, longevity — what each Big Five domain actually correlates with, and what it doesn't.
- Apr 2, 2026/journal/introvert-friendship-the-science
Introvert friendship: the science (and the playbook)
Introverts make fewer friends and report similar friendship satisfaction. The research-backed playbook for adult introverts who want a small circle of close ones.
- Mar 29, 2026/journal/why-friendship-apps-fail
Why every friendship app fails after the match
Bumble BFF, Hey Vina, Wink, Patook, We3 — every friendship app has the same funnel leak. Here's the math, and how to fix it.
- Mar 25, 2026/journal/free-big-five-test-explained
The free IPIP-NEO-120 test, explained — what each score means
120 items, 30 facets, 5 domains. What you'll see at the end and how to read it.
- Mar 21, 2026/journal/best-friendship-apps-2026-compared
Bumble BFF, Timeleft, Meetup, We3, Boo — friendship apps in 2026
An honest comparison of every major friendship app in 2026 — what each does well, where each fails, and what's actually missing from the category.
- Mar 17, 2026/journal/end-to-end-encryption-explained-non-developer
End-to-end encryption, explained for non-developers
What 'E2EE' actually means, why it matters for friendship messaging, and the cryptography Signal and Are We Friends? both use.
- Mar 13, 2026/journal/the-second-ask-is-the-friendship
The second ask is the friendship
Most adult friendships die at the same place — the gap between 'we got coffee once' and 'we got coffee twice.' Here's why.
- Mar 9, 2026/journal/phoenix-friendship-map
The Phoenix friendship map — where adults actually meet friends
Where adults in Phoenix make friends in 2026. Real venues, real social groups, real recurring events. (Founder is in Phoenix, this is hyperlocal.)
- Mar 5, 2026/journal/what-is-the-ipip-neo-120
What is the IPIP-NEO-120, and why we use it
Everything about the public-domain Big Five personality test that powers Are We Friends? — its history, validation, and what makes it different.
Give it five minutes
Meet people who actually fit — and do something real.
Free tier, Big Five test, three matches nearby. No ads, ever.