Where Do We Even Hang Out Anymore? The Disappearance of Third Places for Gen Z

Gen Z is entering their adulthood; many are graduating and about to confront the rest of their lives. There are so many aspects of our society that have rapidly changed, irreversibly altering the 20-year-old experience. Gen Z now must navigate these changes professionally, personally, socially, and confidently. A major difference that many thinkers and writers have analyzed is the loss of third places. Without these third places, Gen Z’s young-adult experience will be indescribably different from their preceding generations.

What is a third place?

Third places are a sociological theory defined by Ray Oldenburg. In his book “The Great Good Place,” Oldenburg says that the “first place” is the home and the “second place” is the workplace. A third place, then, would be any place outside of home or work that a person can go to, socialize, relax, unwind, and exist.

Gen Z’s parents and grandparents had a handful of third places that they could go to: bars, parks, coffee shops, libraries, churches, etc. This is where people would often meet each other in person, build relationships, form community, and live their lives. In fact, a person’s choice of third place would become intertwined with their identity. Third places are such an important part of society to provide citizens with spaces to exist.

So… what happened?

Bars, parks, coffee shops, libraries, and churches all still exist for Gen Z. Some folks will find themselves in these spaces, utilizing them for similar reasons as humans did in the past. However, the change in third places is the commercialization that plagues them now. You can’t attend a coffee shop just to hang out: you must first purchase a seven-dollar drink. Many bars and clubs have cover fees.

There’s also been an addition of spaces that are thinly veiled as third places but requires payment for inclusion. Consider workout classes or concerts, places that are supposed to feel carefree and easy to socialize but stand behind a barrier for payment. There is an illusion of community promoted by these places, but when community is meant to be consumed instead of built, it’s no longer a third place.

Gen Z’s response

Third places have changed in the twenty-first century due to the prevalence of neoliberal capitalism. This is where Gen Z becomes unique and fascinating; they didn’t just give up on third spaces to engage in high-productivity at work and exclusive relaxation at home. No, they built their own spaces in ways that excluded older generations. Gen Z made third places on the internet. Growing from chat rooms and proto-social media like MySpace or Friendster, Gen Z built digital platforms into a space to meet people to build connections and form community.

Out-of-touch generations will claim that younger generations aren’t connecting like they used to, attributing this to the rise of technology and personal cell phones. Honestly, they’re not wrong, they just frame this as unnecessarily negative. Gen Z didn’t choose to live in a late-stage capitalist society with exclusively commodified third places. They did, however, choose to pivot to common technologies to communicate and make friends for free. Ray Oldenburg wouldn’t draw issue with Gen Z’s digitalization like grandparents do; Oldenburg would likely recognize the creation of third places that have occurred through fandom culture, digital communication standards, and popularization of social media platforms.

The importance of community

Sure, third places still exist. They haven’t gone extinct by any means. They just look so different from before, which is concerning to folks who rely on the community for survival. Minority groups have always relied on a sense of community for survival. The decrease of queer centers, cultural centers, and community centers in public is certainly concerning. That said, these communities have organized digitally to continue to operate as before. The Black Panther Party of the 1960s draws a lot of similarities to the Black Lives Matter movement of 2020, which was organized and executed almost exclusively digitally due to a worldwide pandemic.

The survival and prevalence of communities in modern times is only a testament to the transformation of third places; community and organization can’t exist without third places to execute and meet. The fact that communities are still forming and organizing proves that the world has shifted. Third places aren’t still diners and dancing like the 1950s, it’s Facebook groups and Instagram DMs.

Conclusion

Gen Z’s young-adult experience will continue to differ from their preceding generations. Gen Z has already successfully navigated the absence of third places in their culture. The world around them will only continue to change, but Gen Z’s adaptability to technology will only help them to survive and thrive as they confront their lives that lay ahead.