There is a difference between having friends and having a social circle that is capable is arranging dates for you. Most men have friends. Even nerdy gamers and STEM dudes have friends in most cases. What a lot of men don't have are social circles capable of arranging dates for them.
I have friends. I have been in my current city for 10+ years. In the first year or so in this city, I did a good job of making friends with people I could see myself being friends with for a long time. I have retained those friendships, although some have moved on to other cities. Also, with a lot of my local friends now married or in LTRs of 5+ years, these friends aren't inclined to spend much time with me. I have also been neglectful in making new friends. To be fair, there are not a lot of single, 35-45 year old men who are either unattached or tend to have shorter term relationships when they are in relationships. That'd be relationships of 2 years or less. Additionally, as a single, childless 38 year old man, I can't imagine that I'd be friends with divorced dads. I know some divorced dads in my age range, but they are men living in other cities and men I knew prior to me moving to this city.
What I don't have is a social circle capable of arranging dates for me. Many years ago, my male friends were mostly single. They and I were often competing for the few women that were in our social orbit. We had some intense turf wars for these women. 2 of my male friends formed relationships over women in this social orbit that still last to this day. My friends are more blue pill than red. I don't shove red pills or black pills down the throats of my friends. None of my friends have ever worked their networks to help find me a date. I've had a couple of acquaintances over time send dates to me, but nothing that was meaningful. A couple dates, no sex.
Part of why I don't have a social circle is due to frequent long distance relocations. As a child, I relocated multiple times. I have relocated multiple times since turning 18. I'm nowhere near my hometown, if you could even say I had a hometown. My first relocation was in the earlier grades of elementary school. Yes, I have been in my current city for just over 10 years, but I got here in my late 20s. I couldn't get into any of the social circles with people who grew up in this area and had deep social ties. Instead, I became friends with many other adults who relocated to this area as adults. They didn't have deep social ties in the region.
The men I've known with social circles that were most effective in getting them dates and relationships were geographically fixed. They didn't move as children and they stayed in the same area as adults. That's how you get the deep social ties in an area. You find your way into social circles with people fitting a similar profile to that. In that situation, you tend to be more blue pilled. These are men that tend to put a ring on it. They also tend to have relationships that last 2 years or more. You'll tend to annoy your social circle with setting you up with women if you have shorter term relationships. You can go to the social circle option every 2-5 years or so and not annoy the circle. More than that, the circle started to get annoyed.
Of course, as
@DEEZEDBRAH says, playing house with most Western women is a bad idea. That'll cut down on social circle opportunities.
If you don't have a social circle capable of arranging dates for you, the options are: swipe apps, approaching strangers, or paying a matchmaking service.