There is an incredibly worrying trend of a decrease in socialization among the younger generations.
While the internet and social media has provided the youth with invaluable information, educating the public with things they might not have even thought they would care about, there is a downside as well. People are quite clearly becoming too focused in their own bubble; leaving their comfort zone can be a death sentence. I know from first-hand experience how tempting it can be to just lay in bed watching a YouTube video or scroll on Instagram for hours at a time.
What society, and especially college students, need more of is “third places.” According to an article written by Kaetlyn Liddy for Today, third place is a term that originates from a book titled “The Great Good Place” written by sociologist Ray Oldenberg in 1989. The term refers to places besides one’s home or “first place” and work or school or “second place.”
“Coffee shops, parks, bookstores, churches, and community centers can all function as third places,” Liddy writes.
I would love it if more young people were able to socialize in public “third” places. With technology driving us apart, we should be striving to connect with our fellow human beings more. I often get self-conscious talking to strangers. I can almost never start conversations with people because I would feel as if I was intruding on people’s bubbles. I would be perfectly fine with leaving people if they politely ask, but I have a terrible fear of people being unnecessarily and extremely rude to me.
I would scarcely be rude to someone. Really the only reasons I can think to be rude to someone is if they are being a creep or if they are being rude first, which I would never be. Still I have this fear of people being insanely rude and it is because they are ultra fearful of protecting their bubble.
People should not be so fearful of striking up random conversations with complete strangers in a public setting. How else could one make friends besides using the extremely unreliable internet to make friends? People should not need to rely on the unreliable to make friends. Everyone should just be friendlier to one another because people are most likely better than we imagine them, if only you get a chance to know the real them.
Fear and insecurity are perhaps the worst destroyers of humanity. They are far worse than any drug I can think of, except for maybe desomorphine. They can leave someone socially paralyzed and have them settle for a life that is not worth living.
I encourage everyone to strike up polite conversations with others. Maybe compliment a character on someone’s clothing, ask what they like about said character and get into a discussion about it. Learning about what other people like is something I enjoy very much and I am bettering myself to be able to do it more often. Gaining confidence takes work, but it is certainly worth it.
Nico Brazill can be contacted at
nbrazill@kscequinox.com
