Why maintaining third spaces should be our first priority

In a world of AI slop, chat bot friends and digital echo chambers, social spaces are depleting almost as fast as our drinking water. Gen Z are some of the first to witness the mass absence of “third spaces,” places that are not work or school made for gathering and assembly. However, with online shopping strangling in-person stores and urban development dwindling city parks, younger generations are left with an unfortunate ultimatum: hide out in their room and sink into the social media abyss, or do nothing. Though this may sound pessimistic, I have hope. Young people have found salvation and refuge in unlikely places for decades. Places like 6th Avenue Studios invite people to loosen up and spend time in the presence of others rather than wasting it in isolation with a phone in their hand. Before its closure in 2020, The Black Box Cabaret theater was a  third space so close that students could walk to it from their dorm rooms. When the doors of the venue closed, so did a world of third spaces for thousands of students. Its reopening is exactly what we need during times like these. Hopefully, this will inspire the opening of more and more spaces dedicated to gathering, community and connection.