I've been "work from home" since 2012, mainly because the projects I worked on were actually in overseas cities.
Before COVID, I would go on work trips of 1-2 weeks every 2 months or so, which was more than enough "office time" to get my doses of office chatter, noisy work environments, stupid in-person meetings etc.
Even before the lockdowns (Melbourne had the longest in the world), I made it part of my routine to go outside every day to get coffee/lunch/sit-in-the-park/walk/talk to people.
It's important to have that human contact, but it's better that I get to choose who to have that contact with and when and how. There are numerous friends from my work that I also see out of work, but there are a great majority that I have no interest in being with in person or outside the work context.
Before COVID, I would go on work trips of 1-2 weeks every 2 months or so, which was more than enough "office time" to get my doses of office chatter, noisy work environments, stupid in-person meetings etc.
Even before the lockdowns (Melbourne had the longest in the world), I made it part of my routine to go outside every day to get coffee/lunch/sit-in-the-park/walk/talk to people.
It's important to have that human contact, but it's better that I get to choose who to have that contact with and when and how. There are numerous friends from my work that I also see out of work, but there are a great majority that I have no interest in being with in person or outside the work context.