Grabbing coffee with friends or visiting the local library after work is a part of many Americans' routines. However, a smaller number of Americans prefer to play chess at the local park, meet friends for brunch, or drop by their local community center.
The places we socialize outside of work, school, or our homes are called “third places,” and they’re vital community-building locations. Third spaces are where we relax, chat with friends, meet new people, or simply hang out without the responsibilities or expectations of work or home life. Third places are getting harder to find, thanks in part to lingering economic and social changes brought about by the 2020 pandemic. Many third places closed for the pandemic and never reopened, while social distancing meant people were slow to return to those that survived.
The decline in the number of third places doesn’t mean their importance or need for them has disappeared or lessened. Hughesnet, a satellite internet service from Hughes, surveyed 2,689 Americans over the age of 18 in each state. We asked six questions surrounding third places and sorted the answers by state. Here’s what we found:
The survey found that Americans frequent the same kinds of third places nationwide. However, Americans vary widely in how often they use third spaces. Approximately 30% visit third places only once a month and almost 16% go every other week. Most survey respondents reported going to third places weekly (25%) or several times a week (25%). Only 3.5% reported daily visits to their favorite third place.
The availability of third places significantly declined over the last decade, coinciding with increased loneliness. One in three Americans reports feeling lonely at least once a week. According to the Survey Center on American Life, the time spent with friends has also decreased, dropping from an average of six and a half hours per week in the 2010s to just two hours and 45 minutes. Third places offer opportunities to socialize, connect with friends, and meet new people.
The decline of third places has not gone unnoticed. Survey respondents nationwide declared a need for more third places, with Mississippi, Maine, Alabama, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island expressing the most need.
A lack of such spaces can have an impact on mental health. A study in Health Place raised the concern that declining third places means “Americans may be losing access to key services, goods, and amenities, in addition to community sites that help buffer against loneliness, stress, and alienation.”
Third places include a wide range of locations: local libraries, barbershops, clubs, churches, and even apartment stoops. Three particular third places stood out in our survey as the most popular.
Restaurants/bars ranked highest in 29 states, with parks the most popular choice in 11 states. Coffee shops, surprisingly, were only ranked first in four states. This may reflect the changing nature of coffee shops, which increasingly focus on serving customers and getting them out of the door rather than providing places to sit, drink, and chat. Popular third places tend to be clustered in urban centers and increasingly revolve around locations that provide Wi-Fi connections. Hughesnet satellite internet bridges the connectivity gap by bringing high-speed service and Wi-Fi to homes, small business and third places in rural areas. Doing so enhances rural community building by making third places more enjoyable and accessible.
Americans are increasingly online in our downtime, and sometimes, staying home and streaming the latest blockbuster is the best way to relax. Having the opportunity to balance technology with in-person connections improves our quality of life, so third places remain an essential part of everyday life. Hughesnet helps bridge the gap for rural areas by providing satellite internet services, making it easier to stay connected.
