Except third spaces have been systematically dismantled by capitalist interests, and the dating app industry’s astroturfing on social media has done a lot of damage to the perceived validity of meeting someone in person organically.
You can’t just say dating apps are necessary because there’s nowhere else to meet people and ignore the fact that that very problem is socially engineered. It’s manufactured scarcity.
Like if nestle were to poison a town’s water supply so that they could sell more water bottles. After buying out deer park, dasani, and aquafina. And patenting the idea of selling water in bottles. You wouldn’t say “actually it’s necessary to buy their water bottles,” you would say “that’s fucked up and should be illegal.”
Agreed on third spaces, but it’s mostly because of car-centric city design and everyone having to work 40h or more a week (leaves little time to even visit those spaces). The dating apps have capitalised on it, but the change has been happening since before them. And also drinking has fallen out of fashion with young people… Bars and clubs were a major place to meet new people in the past. If you look at the statistics now, Gen Z barely drinks at all. In my country, most clubs are shutting down because people under 50 barely go and people over 50 are starting to get too old to go. Bars are still fairly popular among younger people, but not as much as even a decade ago.
In my neck of the woods bars and clubs are closing down because mayors don’t like noise that’s not tourist-appealing…
The oldest dance club in the entire region (opened in the 1970s) has recently shut down 'cos the city allowed some dumb-ass to open an AirBnB next door and he complained about the noise… and the courts aren’t being kind…
Another club that was the go-to place for live indie rock concerts has closed down due to the mayor coming up with bullshit excuses (the real reason being it’s in a fancy area coveted by real-estate agencies).
Even before these started running into issues, a derelict shopping mall was sorta taken over by bands that used it for rehearsal and such, had a bar and the spot for metal concerts… mostly dead 'cos, you guessed it, mayor thinks that would be a great place for yet another hotel.
It’s not that 50+ are getting old (although we are) is that the only places left are multiple copies of the same old BS that only young drunk german or brit tourists like.
Yeah, an iconic bar in my country is being hounded into shutting down because the dare make noise till 3 AM. Very close to the city center and other bars, but juuuuust a bit away so there’s a few apartment buildings nearby.
They’ve been there for ages. Since 2008 in that particular building according to Wikipedia. Not the oldest bar by any means, but if you’re a foreign exchange student, you’ll find your way there 100% and they host LGBT events among the many, many other things they do.
I do hope they’ll get to stay. Whoever started complaining about the noise is a fucking idiot. Wouldn’t even be surprised if they moved there BEACUSE of the proximity to the bar and other great third places, but have now decided it’s not for them. Because it’s such a coveted location, you have to pay a lot to rent or buy an apartment in that area.
Except third spaces have been systematically dismantled by capitalist interests, and the dating app industry’s astroturfing on social media has done a lot of damage to the perceived validity of meeting someone in person organically.
You can’t just say dating apps are necessary because there’s nowhere else to meet people and ignore the fact that that very problem is socially engineered. It’s manufactured scarcity.
Like if nestle were to poison a town’s water supply so that they could sell more water bottles. After buying out deer park, dasani, and aquafina. And patenting the idea of selling water in bottles. You wouldn’t say “actually it’s necessary to buy their water bottles,” you would say “that’s fucked up and should be illegal.”
Agreed on third spaces, but it’s mostly because of car-centric city design and everyone having to work 40h or more a week (leaves little time to even visit those spaces). The dating apps have capitalised on it, but the change has been happening since before them. And also drinking has fallen out of fashion with young people… Bars and clubs were a major place to meet new people in the past. If you look at the statistics now, Gen Z barely drinks at all. In my country, most clubs are shutting down because people under 50 barely go and people over 50 are starting to get too old to go. Bars are still fairly popular among younger people, but not as much as even a decade ago.
In my neck of the woods bars and clubs are closing down because mayors don’t like noise that’s not tourist-appealing…
The oldest dance club in the entire region (opened in the 1970s) has recently shut down 'cos the city allowed some dumb-ass to open an AirBnB next door and he complained about the noise… and the courts aren’t being kind…
Another club that was the go-to place for live indie rock concerts has closed down due to the mayor coming up with bullshit excuses (the real reason being it’s in a fancy area coveted by real-estate agencies).
Even before these started running into issues, a derelict shopping mall was sorta taken over by bands that used it for rehearsal and such, had a bar and the spot for metal concerts… mostly dead 'cos, you guessed it, mayor thinks that would be a great place for yet another hotel.
It’s not that 50+ are getting old (although we are) is that the only places left are multiple copies of the same old BS that only young drunk german or brit tourists like.
Fucked up timeline.
Yeah, an iconic bar in my country is being hounded into shutting down because the dare make noise till 3 AM. Very close to the city center and other bars, but juuuuust a bit away so there’s a few apartment buildings nearby.
They’ve been there for ages. Since 2008 in that particular building according to Wikipedia. Not the oldest bar by any means, but if you’re a foreign exchange student, you’ll find your way there 100% and they host LGBT events among the many, many other things they do.
I do hope they’ll get to stay. Whoever started complaining about the noise is a fucking idiot. Wouldn’t even be surprised if they moved there BEACUSE of the proximity to the bar and other great third places, but have now decided it’s not for them. Because it’s such a coveted location, you have to pay a lot to rent or buy an apartment in that area.