Because I lived in Korea for almost all my life, I assume that I could say something about Korean third places. Similar to the U.S., Third Places have decreased continuously in Korea as well. When I was a child, most towns had several playgrounds and facilities for resident gatherings. However, as a price of lands got increased, builders had to sell more houses within limited areas. So, they made more residences only instead of building Third Places. As a result, the locals rarely had meetings and even lived without knowing people next door. In addition, modern people tend to be more busy and individualistic in comparison with past decades. Therefore, they spend more time in First and Second Places and particularly most young people have no intention to go to Third Places.
However, some locals still want to share information and promote friendship; it is usually done by online. I can see lots of local communities on the Internet and there are sizable members. So, as of now, I think Third Places are moved to a cyberspace. They do share information and make friends on the Internet likewise our seniors did in Third Places. Furthermore, some members of an online community are likely to meet in person when they become close.
To sum up, I think the number of Third Places is getting decreased and it seems that Third Places could not go against the trend. However, people keep sharing information one another as ever and the biggest difference between past and present might be an interface in which they use.
Do on-line third places follow the same rules that Oldenburg spelled out for physical third places?
-Michael
I agree that there are less and less traditional third places in the world, as the local neighborhood has decreased its significance over time. It seems that as this emerges, people will switch to new means of communing. In the modern era, that is often the internet.
Fast developing network has changed our life a lot, since it does connect people all over the world, and this giant virtual place could be called the third place. But I don’t feel social media could replace physical third places, because physical places not only provide a place for people to gather together, but also complete goals there that network is not easy to address.
I agree with your opinion. There are less physical third places in the world. Instead more and more online group or social media show up. But I still think the internet can not replace the function of the physical “third places”. I prefer the face-to-face communication with others in real life for the reason that online interaction only provides limited interactive modes, making it totally different from the conventional interaction.