#and the internet provides a more low stakes environment that could perhaps be paralleled by. say. a town market

[flintmcgraw]

i saw a post floating around a bit ago that said something along the lines of "i think everyone needs larger living spaces with room to exist in" and it kind of really irked me as a western-centric view, but i only just put my finger on what i think the issue is.

it all comes back around to third spaces. someone who lives in a village of one room mud huts is not less happy or less fortunate than an American in a townhouse - they get their solace in outdoor/separate from home community spaces. my mother lived a very happy childhood with her whole family in an apartment the size of our current living room - and upon reflection, she credits it with the state-built parks between every complex that she played in and was called from to dinner through an open window.

and there is a draw towards alone-ness for a lot of us, in equating peace to silence and ownership of our own space, but i can't help but wonder if we would be so exhausted by the outside if the outside were more livable, and if we didn't have so much of a need to recover from existing in the society we built