> In sociology, "the third place" refers to the social surroundings that are separate from the two usual social environments of home ("first place") and the workplace ("second place"). > > Examples of third places include churches, cafes, bars, clubs, libraries, gyms, bookstores, hackerspaces, stoops, parks, and theaters, among others. > > -The Dynamic Read-Writable Free Encyclopedic Repository of the Modern State of Human Knowledge ## The Problem The modern world can be a pretty lonely place. ![[loneliness-collage-youtube-3.jpg]] We believe this is not an inevitable result of human psychology, or smartphones, or modern society overall. ![[loneliness-collage-youtube-1.jpg]] We believe the loneliness of modern life is a direct consequence of the nonexistence of a certain type of place 一 specifically a certain type of business 一 often called a Third Place. ![[loneliness-collage-youtube-5.jpg]] It is those businesses that we aim to create. We believe that every other business currently in existence is pathetically failing to address this problem, including the ones that claim to be "[reclaiming the third place](https://stories.starbucks.com/emea/stories/2024/reclaiming-third-places-our-bold-vision-for-community-stores/)." Everyone agrees that Third Places are disappearing. What is less commonly recognized is why the ones that remain don't work. To be precise about what it means to say these places "don't work," consider the following thought experiment. Imagine yourself in a hypothetical third place, like a coffee shop or neighborhood bar. There are 100 people in the building, each doing the sorts of things that modern people do. Some are on laptops, some are on phones, and others are in small groups of people who already knew each other when they arrived. Now, your job is to meet someone new, in this environment. The barriers you'll have to overcome are known as [[The Big Four]].