#Third spaces

[postcardsfromheapside]

I am old, and I am tired.

I just need to be so clear right now.

If y'all are using chatgpt to find information, you've already lost.

Also, I'm not sure what kind of connecting you're looking to do, but on a most basic level:

We used to have things called “third spaces,” which have effectively disappeared, where people (kids especially) could hang out - there are a couple books out about this whose exact names escape me at the moment but if you google “books” and “third spaces” you can find them.

But also, quite simply, you get invited to something with friends, then meet friends of friends, and talk to people. I met the person who has been sort of chatting at me that way - not through social media.

If you needed to find a specific person, for research, for information, whatever, you could ask Google, you could ask a librarian, you could start asking other adults until someone pointed you to who you needed to talk to, and gave you the contact info. It was work, and you actually had to communicate with other human beings, but it had a surprising success rate.

[irrepressible-domovoy]

I finally caught up to Midnight Burger and some of the comments on the episode are just...

"never expected to hear a philosophical commentary on the death of third spaces"

My dude. My fellow enjoyer of this podcast. That's what this entire series is about

[swan2swan]

Whoever conceived and animated this moment, I hope they're doing well and thriving. This is S-rank romance stuff here.

[sheridan-le-fanu]

“Third spaces are important” is a true statement. “Capitalism killed third spaces” is only a partially true statement. I think Americans’ culture-wide antisocial behavior is not helping keep those third spaces alive.

Let me tell a little story:

When I was eight, I enjoyed the used book store my grandmother worked at, which had untranslated Japanese manga. Having the vague idea that the books I liked (Full Moon O Sagashite, Jesus I should not have been looking at that as an eight-year-old) were in another language, I joined a free local Japanese conversation class that met on Sunday nights at the local library.

The contingents of this class were:

1) “cringe” but generally respectful animanga-loving teens.

2) Japanese-American children a little younger than me who did not want to be learning another language (because they were six), and their understandably frustrated parents.

3) Older Japanese-American women more so looking for community and people to speak the language with than instructions on how to learn Japanese.

I did not really fall into any of these. Over the years, the members and instructors came and went, and I came and went and came again and became a cringe but hopefully respectful animanga teen. It was a comforting constant in my life growing up, and I’m grateful to have been part of this third space.

I still come when classes are offered. Less so because I want to learn Japanese (though I do), and more because I like being part of my local community.

So yeah. Those random flyers at your local library are calling, tumblrinas. Even if you could learn to crochet or scrapbook or learn Portuguese from the internet, it might be more fun to do it with a random group of older people, kids, and lonely teens.

Please. Third spaces need us to facilitate them.

[marmaladeinlemonade]

The push towards overconsumption doesn't get more obvious than this.

genuinely a shocker that the art form that's supposed to be digested slowly and analyzed is getting an industrialized fast fashion version of itself.

Ik it doesn't seem like a big deal but renting books from a library has always been the default for me, it was like culture shock to find out people pay money to get books they are CONSIDERING reading. Why? Why not go to the library to find a book you might like and maybe interact with people for once? Third spaces are disappearing in the US and that may not always be in our control, but we have to try to preserve the ones that are still around by visiting them.

This doesn't count for anyone who doesn't have access to libraries or secondhand books btw. But please . Take the opportunity to find some new books irl you'll even get the #cottagecore aesthetic if the book is busted and used and you'll meet new people

[walkingdetroit]

Happy Monday from Wayne State

[toooldtotobedoingthis]

Reading the notes something so many people are missing is that Smolrobots is from the UK (and is really good people) where the Tories are actually trying to bring in a law to ban under 18's from having phones/social media. Now they're going to get obliterated at the GE, but they're sold it in such a "think of the children!" way it's wouldn't surprise me if Labour carry it forward in some way or other.

[eradicatetehnormal]

As a snob and local/regional coffee shop enjoyer, I'm loving the death of Starbucks. That being said, a lot of chain alternatives are drive-throughs like Scooters and Dutch Bros. While I LOVE Scooters, it is a real shame I can't sit down and just chill there.

Apparently, Starbucks has been prioritizing takeout and drive-throughs and they've been less friendly, and it's just like damn third spaces really are dead. We're getting to a point where people are going to have to be sitting in their garage with the door open, holding signs that say "Please talk to me. I am so bored."

[vampirepuppyboyfag]

third spaces and building community are so important

[celestialowlryxs]

Compilation of animated black cats 🐈🐾

[env0writes]

Umber Embers Vol.3, 9.11.24 “The Third Door”

The great outdoors Were grand and glorious Blue and green And sights unseen Where out that door Before mankind’s first profit spark The threshold dear With fawn and deer Soon the parks all had gates Locked sundown With fines if you play If you visit or rest where you lay So maybe instead of outdoors where I go Venues sought without cost Where will we gather to speak When we’re weary from work all the week Cuff me and call for order Trees will speak Plants will breathe all the same Is this air not for free, but for blame? The great indoors Where the internet lay Filled with portals to connect A to B With pretty pictures and people to see Where in the door That windowed view To learn something new Meeting and greeting and yet still so few Soon all the forums are full Flocked with markets advertised So now all the shills from the playground Find their sights on the sites all around The greens and the blues mode set to dark Now the smoke outside subsides Yet the slate streets are growing And the slate pages showing So now I must seek another door Some place or portal to flee Away, away, away, away Far from this place The door is not in nor out Between I must find Where that third door must reside Eyes shut tight to find where it does hide

@env0writes C.Buck   Ko-Fi & Venmo: @Zenv0 Support Your Local Artists!

[spac3d0lls]

i know a lot of people mourn third spaces but please take this post as encouragement to go to your local third spaces and keep them alive.

i very rarely ever see teenagers out at my local park anymore. in fact i very rarely see teenagers in third spaces anymore, or even kids. playgrounds still exist, skate parks still exist, but the hoards of children i remember from when i was a child are long gone and the only people i see using those spaces are adults and very small children.

i feel like one of the issues at play here lies in the fact that the adults of today have grown increasingly hostile to teenagers in third spaces in particular. the one time in recent memory i went to climb trees with my friends at a public park, there wasn’t a time we weren’t getting watched or gawked at by an older person.

don’t complain about teenagers not going outside or utilizing third spaces anymore if all you’re gonna do is turn them into hostile environment.

and to the other teenagers here: don’t be afraid to go outside <3 it makes me so happy when i see other groups of teenagers at the park or library. the first step to repopulating third spaces is to make it known that you belong in them!!

the death of third spaces is being caused by people no longer using them. don’t be afraid to use your third spaces!!!

[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.

[houseofmcallister]

Libraries are crazy. Theres books in here. I can hang out in here for no money. Wild.

[meowyjean]

but in all seriousness, i loved this video essay

[rachel-sylvan-author]

Libraries are one of our last Third Spaces - protect them at all costs! Human community depends on it!