It's not that I want to stay at home. It's just that I find it impossible to have a fulfilling social life. I don't know why these articles always seem to assume that these home bound people have good social opportunities.
2. I'd search for some hobby/interest groups that would fit my interests, but nothing really fits. Either there are no meetups for such interests or there are meetups but the demographic at those meetup is not the demographic that I am interested in meeting.
3. Out of desperation I tried to be open minded and joined some hobby groups and did some sports that were really out of character for me. Here I did meet some interesting people, but I did not make a good impression because I was so obviously out of place.
4. Eventually my Friday nights consisted of going for a swim at 21:00-22:00 or going to the library of the nearest university so that I could feel some kind of social warmth sitting in a hall with all the other people.
2. What are your interests, precisely? And what do you mean the demographic you are interested in meeting-- what is that demographic, precisely?
You can just start your own group in this case. That's what I did with Lisp Ireland.
I'm sure there are other hobbies that would suit you.
frankly this is just a bad mindset and not a true description of reality.