For centuries, social life had a simple rhythm: from home to work and from work to home. Then everyday accommodation appeared wherever one could Spend hours producing without commitmentbuy or render accounts such as bars, squares and clubs.
The advancement of algorithms and the loneliness epidemic in big cities have plunged these spaces into crisis at the very time we needed them most. How to reclaim the opportunity to meet strangers?
In the 1980s, sociologist Ray Oldenburg coined the term “third place” or “third place” to refer to physical places that are neither home nor work, but serve the function of facilitating spontaneous conversations, establishing intergenerational relationships, etc a fundamental sense of community.
In the 20th century, Parisian cafés, English pubs and German beer halls were the epitome of these temples of carefree conviviality. Spaces where chatting was the main activity, where everyone could feel part of it, and where social differences were diluted. According to Oldenburg, these environments act as “anchors of public life.”
However, the pandemic accelerated a process that was already underway: the deprivation of sociability. In the USA, for example, surveys show this Fewer and fewer people are interacting with strangers And even if they live in cities full of cafes, gyms, and parks, most don’t use these places to create real communities.
And in European cities like Berlin (“nightlife capital of the world”), half of the historic clubs are threatened with closure due to gentrification (real estate renewal: poor neighborhoods are being bought by rich people), rent increases and generational changes.
At the same time, virtual links are growing inexorably thanks to the very efficient but disembodied interactions of social networks, WhatsApp conversations and, increasingly, chatbots with artificial intelligence. As American journalist Patrick Kho explained: Rather than bringing us closer to others, these algorithmically curated connections distance us.
And authentic sociability requires spontaneity, not programming; There need to be cracks through which chance can penetrate. In a world where everything wants to be useful, these useless conversations become an act of resistance. They are the emotional gymnastics that prevent the disintegration of public life.
Third places not only alleviate social loneliness. Also They act as mirrors in which our identity is refined. At home or at work we are not the same as in a bar where no one knows us, in a square where we go without expectations, or in a library where silence creates affinity.
Oldenburg warned 40 years ago that a third-party job must be free of performance logic. We won’t sell, promote, network or achieve goals, but we will be there.
Getting carried away by a conversation that goes nowhere, mixing ages, backgrounds and professions. Are these? little encounters that, without promising anything, give us the world back.
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