Let's do some backstory to start, with some reading materials to boot. Start with me at this present moment. I'm sitting in a coffee shop typing. Well, on what appears to be December 10, 2013, I was also sitting in a coffee shop -- that one was in Minneapolis -- writing about the decline of male friendships. That was almost six years ago and I doubt much has changed.

As for reading materials: Here's a little ditty on "male loneliness killing millions," here's one calling the whole deal "an epidemic," and maybe the No. 1 thing in this canon, a Boston Globe article about how loneliness is a bigger threat to dudes than obesity. You also might enjoy "Why do we murder the beautiful friendships of boys?"