A Lack of 3rd Spaces for Younger People

Hello!! This is my first blog entry so that's fun. A topic I've been really invested in recently is third spaces and how they have become increasingly less common. As somebody who spends way too much time online, I have decided to put an end to it this summer by getting out and interacting more with my local community. Unfortunately, this has come with some challenges.

Most people have two main places they visit on a day-to-day basis: home and school/work. It can feel draining to be in a constant cycle of revisiting the same 2 places every day. That's where third spaces come in. These are places that you can go to relax, socialize, and enjoy yourself alongside your friends or other people. I can't speak from experience as strongly as others could, but in the past, third spaces used to be everywhere. You could go to a variety of different parks, cafes, and libraries to have fun after a long day. While these places do still exist, they seem to be less friendly towards kids and teenagers.

It was just announced in the news recently that a nearby school will now be locking up their playgrounds to keep out children while the daycare is running. I can somewhat understand the safety concerns of strangers interacting with the daycare children, but keep in mind that this is a huge play area with 3 different park structures. Growing up and even to this day, this place has been a great spot for myself and others to socialize. Now that it's being taken away, where do we go? The reasoning for this sudden closure was "School-specific incidents". Now, the actions of a small group are giving younger people in their entirety a bad name and preventing them from doing the things they used to enjoy.

I definitely feel that there is a bias against the younger people in today's society; especially teenagers. Speaking from personal experience, I have witnessed places "looking down" on me and my friends. We like to visit small local coffee shops to study, and are always nothing but kind, quiet, and respectful. However, it feels as if we are poorly judged right from the get-go and expected to cause trouble just because of the bad reputation teens tend to have. Many stores are starting to straight up ban teenagers from entering without an adult! Maybe, just maybe, teens would get into less trouble if they had these safe spaces to go to instead... right?

Even public libraries feel less inclusive to teenagers now. I was flipping through a magazine to see what summer events I could attend at the library, and was disappointed to only find 1 page of events that I could sign up for. The children and adult sections had a minimum of 3 pages each, but hardly anything was available for teens. This was especially disappointing to see because the library was a huge part of my summers as a child, but now that is simply not possible until I become an adult. I will of course try to partake in whatever activities I can, but I just wish there were more teen-focused events, considering the library is one of the few places left for younger people to interact in.

I've noticed a lot of teens tend to gravitate towards shopping centers and malls now. Unfortunately due to the rise of online stores, malls are slowly closing down as there is seemingly less need for the experience of in-person shopping. Not to mention the crazy expensive costs and overall safety, especially with where I am from. I enjoy the occasional trip to the mall as much as the next person, but from my perspective, walking through a half-dead mall full of sketchy people does not equate to a solid third space. Other third places that used to be popular, such as bowling alleys, theatres, and arcades are SO EXPENSIVE compared to in the past. It's so frustrating trying to find somewhere to go and have most of the options be too costly for our budget or just simply unwelcoming to my age group.

As you can probably tell, the lack of third spaces in my community is something I feel very strongly about. Adding in more accessible areas for teens would probably help a lot with making friends, lowering screen time, improving mental health, and reducing stress. I'd love to hear other people's thoughts on this as well as any examples of third spaces around you!! <3