Hello!
I’m sure it’s obvious by now that I think very highly of the concept of community.
I’ve written a little bit about the nuclear family and how isolating homemaking can be, and I’ve written not-nearly-enough about how much of our precious time is stolen by commuting to and being at work. Now I’m going to share about the in-between that’s crucial for our mental health: the third place.*
Sociologist Ray Oldenburg first coined the term in his 1989 book, “The Great Good Place.” A third place is where you can exist outside of domestic (first place) and professional (second place) responsibilities. It’s an easily accessible and playful community hub where you can share ideas and build relationships and connections, where you can be “the real you.”
As I’ve mentioned, loneliness is a real problem here in the US. 19th and 21st US Surgeon General Dr. Vivek H. Murthy released an advisory in 2023 pointing out just how crucial social connection is, listing some physical consequences of loneliness as including a 29% increase in heart disease risk, a 32% increase in risk for stroke, and a whopping 50% increase in dementia risk for older adults.
On top of that, the Harvard Graduate School of Education found in 2021 that the loneliest age group was the youngest adults, 18-25. Faculty director Richard Weissbourd hypothesized that apart from active policies due to the pandemic, societal pressures on young adults like grades, individual success, and navigating competitive cultures could be fueling loneliness. “We have to talk to our kids about friendship and their responsibility to reach out” to people who may be struggling.
“’We have a fundamental need to have personal, meaningful connection, so when people reach out to others this starts a biochemical reaction of hormones and neurotransmitters such as oxytocin (bonding and resilience), dopamine (reward and motivation), endorphins (feel good and pain relief) and DHEA (anti-aging),’ says Rachel Taylor, PhD, neuropsychologist and founder of UNBroken.”
The Shanker Institute found data that shows third places can be just as beneficial to children as they are to adults.
Children who frequented parks, libraries, did sports, or attended after-school programs or clubs tended to have better test scores, higher reading achievements, seek higher education, and earn more money. Being involved in third places gave them more confidence and resilience to succed, but it also helped them develop emotional-social skills such as self-regulation, social- and self-awareness, and responsible decision making-all leading to increased chances of success, employment, and creative thinking in the future.
Third places benefit all of us, and next time I’ll be writing about some of the problems and how to potentially fix them. That post will likely be a bit longer, so it may come Thursday or Friday.
Until then,
Salud!
*I’ve literally never heard it called this, but that’s Oldenburg’s term. Next post it’ll be ‘third space’
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