Dude, it's literally always been more "convenient" to isolate yourself. Jane Austin was writing about how hard it is to talk to people in 1813

by Anonymous 2 days ago

Anti-Social doesn't mean what you think it does. You are thinking asociality.

by rachelle58 2 days ago

Yeah, how could having more third spaces possibly make going places after work more convenient.

by Anonymous 2 days ago

the lack of spaces isn't the problem. I've learned that when people give the typical argument about these spaces, what they're really saying is "I want a place where I can show up alone, and be welcomed into a social group"

by Cool-Winter 2 days ago

Libraries are not an hang out spot. The whole point is to be quiet.

by Crawford53 2 days ago

To a point, but check if your local library has a webpage. I'm in a not big town but ours has a few conference rooms and a craft area. Wednesday they host D&D campaigns, Friday they have group readings, Saturday and Monday they do science kits, I think there's an anime fan night.

by Anonymous 2 days ago

I love being on the phone in my third spaces ;)

by Anonymous 2 days ago

Considering we already have parks, libraries, free weekly city events, etc. We don't want to speak to cashiers, we don't want to answer the phone, we don't want to introduce ourselves at the start of the school year because we all have a terrible fear of socializing. I don't have a fear of socializing, but I'm not going to introduce myself to someone at a park or library because I have a fear, or more like a reasonable belief, that they don't want to socialize with me. If you're not introducing yourself at the start of the school year, that goes beyond the problem of third places. That's failing at socialization even in second places. We would have to make it more convenient to go places after work, meaning that you're reducing work hours or extending breaks. We would have to make it more convenient to travel and access these places, meaning making traffic not so much of a hassle, offering some sort of public transportation thats reliable and cheap. These are good suggestions that make it more practical to access third places. You're right that simply building them won't make people come. If people had a place in their lives for them, they would probably already exist. We would have to make it more convenient to socialize with people, maybe that would mean lowering the stakes of interactions. Every single time I hear someone talk about speaking to someone else they either feel like its tortuous small talk at best, or at worst think they are in front of a potential criminal that is going to harm them. That's the point of a third place and why parks and libraries aren't third places. A proper third place establishes an expectation that it's okay to talk to strangers. An example is a bar or even a church.

by carrollhailie 2 days ago

Everyone wants a village. No one wants to be a villager.

by karianne87 2 days ago

wtf is a 3rd place? i live in america and we only come in first. #1 in school shootings #1 in medical costs #1 in incarcerated per capita #1 in amount of child raping presidents

by Loud-Worker 2 days ago

We would have to make it more convenient to socialize with people, maybe that would mean lowering the stakes of interactions Wow, it almost sounds like you're describing… third places? Places where there's incentive to show up, but no pressure to socialize if you don't want to?

by Anonymous 2 days ago

The third spaces need to be sufficiently digitized to compete with what we get at home. When you can sit down at a restaurant and play digital games against everyone else there, people will rediscover socializing again.

by Fit-Angle 2 days ago

I noticed it with millennials when going to a party, people couldn't even do a simple intro of their name.

by Imanihoeger 2 days ago