The term “third place” was first dubbed by Ray Oldenburg, a world-renowned sociologist who wrote The Great Good Place in 1989. In his book, which was a direct response to the privatization of home life that came with the increase in suburb growth, he claimed that if our homes were the “first” place, and our offices the “second” place, then the “third” place was most everything in between- or the more informal places where community gatherings would occur. These spaces are easily accessible by all and serve as anchors to modern society.
The Future Workspace That Isn’t the Workplace — https://www.archdaily.com/960896/the-future-workspace-that-isnt-the-workplace?utm_source=feedly&utm_medium=webfeeds&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+ArchDaily+%28ArchDaily%29
A nice look at the future of work from Kaley Overstreet. Kaley has a B.S. in Architecture and Master of Architecture from Ohio State Knowlton School and is a Senior Contributor at ArchDaily. Third spaces and places have been happening for some time. The pandemic merely accelerates the trend.
How will your workforce work?
lifeunderwriter.net 
I think the third spaces have been greatly changed by the introduction of the smart phone. When I used to frequent coffee houses in the 80s, everybody chitchatted together. There was a certain crowd at 8 o’clock another crowd at 10 o’clock another crowd at noon. Everybody knew each other and was reading the newspaper and talking across the room. 30 years later it’s completely different. Everybody’s face is buried in the screen. It’s still a third space, but very little interaction with the inhabitants right around you. Instead, virtual interaction with a cloud.
I would say introduction of both the commercial internet followed by the smart phone which then led to Unsocial Media.
I totally agree. I’m doing less and less of on social media. I use Facebook to post pictures of my dog. And Twitter to follow local news stories. Oh, and Instagram to also show off pictures of my dog. And blogs to keep up with your interesting postings. And a few podcast or‘s I enjoy. I don’t know if podcasts are considered social media.
Social media platforms can be a wonderful adjunct to the things you do while on the internet. But once a platform becomes a person’s primary source of news, social contacts, etc. I consider this to be problematic. Don;t even get me started on the addiction aspect.
Yes, the Internet can be very addicting. And when I mention following local news on Twitter, I must clarify what I follow are the tweets from our local newspaper and then I go to the website of the newspaper to read the original article.
My Twitter is limited to MedTwitter my Oklahoma City Thunder.