#ENTER A COMMON ROOM AND PLAY FOOZBALL

[desultorydenouement]

one of the things that's most important in the discussion about bringing back third spaces is that i really think it's so so necessary for people to learn that strangers can be kind. everyday i think about that study they did that was like, the people who feel lonely aren't the ones who are most disliked but they are the ones who *feel* the most disliked. and with gen z we've thrown them into this internet cesspool where the worst of humanity is constantly being thrown in their faces, and their insecurities cemented at every turn, and so of course they're all bitter and polarized. they haven't learned about human decency yet. they walk around interacting with the furthermost corners of the world around them, all the time extrapolating from their online experiences to assume that everyone is as mean and judgmental as the people on tiktok or maybe the people in their high school and so on. but there's something so formative about entering a real third space, just a place where all kinds of different kinds of people can talk to each other and hang out, and learning that it's possible to enter a room of strangers and have them all be kind and leave the night with all of them friends. that's an experience that cements that you deserve to exist in the space you take up, and the world isn't broken into good and evil, and no matter how differently they see the world most people fundamentally are decent.