This is a good thing, but I have a free suggestion: it’s the cars, stupid.

The US has been building it’s spaces in a cars-first fashion for over seventy years now. Many Americans don’t even know what it’s like to live in a world where walking and biking is the norm. In the rest of the world, in urban and suburban areas, community third spaces are easily (and by easy, I mean convenient and safe) accessible by bike or foot. In the US, there’s almost nothing that’s a safe, enjoyable walk from my home, and that’s a pretty typical suburban experience by design. If I want to go do something or be somewhere where other people are, I practically have to drive. I hate driving, so I try to avoid it if I can. That usually just translates into not going out. I think that’s how it is for a lot of people; being outside in the US’ built environments just kinda sucks.

On the other hand, I’ve had a few exchange students from Europe and Japan, and consistently the biggest culture shock for them is how car dependent (and isolated) we are. The kids really feel the difference because they can’t drive, and they go from being able to use bikes and mass transit to go places and hang out to being fully dependent on being driven around to go anywhere. As for Third spaces serve the important role of being the space set aside just for socializing. I’m sure everyone has seen/heard the grievances between the genders of how women can’t work/shop/exist without being approached romantically, and men begging the question of when they can approach women, then. I am confident this is largely a US phenomenon, because we have pitifully few third spaces, where romantic approaches generally tend to be more acceptable. You want to fix loneliness? Start by making our cities not suck for humans, and start adding more third spaces like parks and stuff.