Re:Poverty is not a personal choice, but a reflection of soc...
by kabouseng on Saturday July 01, 2017 @08:49AM
(#14676885)
Don't forget you get a greater abundance of "meetups" type clubs and meetings than you did a couple of years ago, which can offset the reduction of "third spaces".
Ok, meetups are in my experience still a niche / nerdy occurrence but it is getting more and more main stream.
Re:Poverty is not a personal choice, but a reflection of soc...
by Larrikin on Saturday July 01, 2017 @10:51AM
(#14677348)
Meetup.com seems to be filling the niche and becoming pretty mainstream. I've used it on two continents now. There are a lot of tech groups, which I assume was their initial market, but I've mostly used it for language exchange. My other friends have also been using it for general hobbies.
But I'd add decline in church attendance to the list of reasons - churches used to be a natural "third space" for people to meet, socialize and have shared experiences leading to some potential societal bonding.
Nowadays nominees for societal "third space" beyond residence and work office are local sports, shopping malls or Starbucks, which, contrary to television portrayals of them, don't quite provide social experiences.
You actually have to go out of your way to have an offline shared collaborative experience with a group of local people, either by volunteering or joining some one-off clubs like reading groups or moms meetups.