Ilze Earner, 67, retired final yr after 25 years of instructing at Hunter Faculty in Manhattan. Life in rural Claverack, N.Y., had its satisfactions and friendships, however after just a few months, “I began feeling like I used to be lacking one thing,” she mentioned. She started taking herself to lunch weekly, sitting on the bar on the close by Chatham Home.

Quickly, the bartender had realized her title (and vice versa) and of her love of lobster rolls. Ms. Earner received a bar-top recreation of ice dice bocce in opposition to the freeway crew who additionally got here in for lunch. “They observed once I disappeared as a result of I had a knee substitute, and once I got here again it was, ‘Hey, bionic lady!’” she recalled. “It’s good.”

In Placerville, Calif., David Turoff, 72, a veterinarian, chats along with his mail provider and UPS deliveryman, and generally drops in on the mechanic who repairs his truck simply to say hey or depart a present of firewood. “They make me really feel good,” Mr. Turoff mentioned of such temporary interactions. “I like having connections with individuals.”

Toby Gould’s day begins with a 7 a.m. go to to Chez Antoine, a bakery and occasional store in Hyannis, Mass. Mr. Gould, 77, a retired minister, buys a takeout latte and speaks French, haltingly, with the Belgian proprietor, who bestows a slice of ham on Mr. Gould’s Australian shepherd, Layla. If the store closed, “it might depart a gap in my life,” Mr. Gould mentioned.

Weak ties, together with these developed on-line, don’t essentially flip into shut ones and don’t must. Shut relationships, in any case, can contain conflicts, calls for for reciprocity and different issues.