Go out of the house and go… where?

In sociology, the third place refers to the social surroundings that are separate from the two usual social environments of home (“first place”) and the workplace (“second place”). [x]

There aren’t places to go anymore. There just aren’t. Libraries, but they’re underfunded and aren’t well-suited for socialisation. Parks, if you live in an area that has a planned/maintained one. There aren’t any nice pedestrian-focused city centres for people to visit just for the sake of visiting, to sit outside drinking tea while listening to the birds - just miles of thoroughfare and parking spaces, covered in smog and traffic noise. Who would ever?

Many countries (especially US and Canada) are so car-centric that they might not even have sidewalks at all in huge areas. Housing is sprawled in low-density suburbia. It’s hard to go over to a friend’s house and play a board game with them or host a party if it’s an hour and half driving commute to get there, so we’re not even visiting each other’s homes.

The only thing that exists anymore is the place you earn money, the soulless big box stores you spend money (if you have any), and home.

So, yeah. We’re all fucking home, because home is free, comfortable, and has a short commute.