A TikToker In Search of America’s Third Places

A TikToker In Search of America’s Third Places

Digital media is usually looked down upon by communitarians and those who lament America’s decline in social capital. I tend to agree, as screen time prevents people from engaging with the outside world. Imagine, then, my surprise when I found someone on TikTok – an app usually associated with brain rot and self-indulgent content – advocating for a return to community vis-à-vis “third places,” a term pioneered by the late sociologist Ray Oldenbu…