What project inspires the author to write the memoir, We Need to Hang Out?

As the narrative begins, the author is asked to write an article on the health dangers associated with loneliness, and on what his editor sees as the epidemic of loneliness in America. The article serves as a trigger for the author's own considerations of both loneliness and friendship as a means of countering both loneliness and its effects. The article is, therefore, a catalyst for the existence of this book.