Listen To This | Have You Heard Of "Third Places"?
A Podcast Rec for Thursday, January 30th
Welcome to Listen to This, a new feature within Welcome Wanderer. Each day, I share a favorite podcast episode or audiobook —something that moved me, challenged me, or simply made life a little brighter.
Podcast of The Day:
Fresh Air | The Anti-Social American Life | Jan 29 2025 | 49 min
Why It Mattered To Me:
A wealth of insight into why so many people don’t feel lonely, but also don’t have friends…such a an interesting paradox. But it makes sense after you listen to this episode!
Press Pause on These Words:
“Between the early 1900s and 1950 we built a ton of what the sociologist Eric Klinenberg called social infrastructure. We built library branches, community centers, and public pools. And we built places for people to spend time outside of their home and their work. In the last 50 to 70 years we haven’t built nearly as much of this stuff.
Third space or third place is a term some people have… it’s the place you choose to be with people you are not related to and you’re not financially obligated to be around them…”
-Derek Thomas
Question for you: Do you feel like you’re phone makes you feel less lonely than you actually are? What is your favorite third space? Tell me about it!
Your curious friend,
Charissa
PS: I’d love to hear if you’ve benefitted in some way from these daily podcast episodes and audiobook recs?