20.07：Still going on ....

The Fourth Place

Over time, the places where we live have come to be distinguished as The First, The Second, and The Third Place. 
The First Place means our own house, own family.  It's the fundamental base of our life.  The Second Place means our office or school that we belong to.  Those are inevitable for individual certification, and are the first step of social life.
But those two are not of service to housewives.  Furthermore, it is boring to only ever go back and forth between our house and the office (school). People wanted another place where they could spend comfortable time, and those places are The Third Place. 
This is the Place that stimulates the routine of our days, and we have come to think: the more Third Places we have, the better lives we get; and that is the point of town and city design. 
And then we have the world of IT (Information Technology), which I have mentioned a lot.  And although it's a virtual world, it is now our Fourth Place.   
It used to be the assistant world to the 1st to 3rd Places, at least I thought of it like this, but now, under Corona, it seems it has become the first priority. 

Well, it is good so far, I think. 
We lost connection to our Second and Third Places and this Fourth Place has filled that gap.
And we can see who we want to see, and do collaborative work with colleagues while staying home. 
Moreover new ideas and services, which transcend beyond the scope of SNS, excite me.   
But, are we proceeding in the right way?

Maybe new vaccines and treatments will be found, and we will go back to the old 2nd and 3rd Places and try to find the good balance with the 4th Place.
But is this a “new” life style?
I don't think so. 
It is quite terrifying to realize that many new innovations which made our life more convenient before, were actually the arrangements for the Fourth Place.

I don't meet people recently.  When I need to make a request, or proceed with important matters of my life, I cannot confirm anything at a counter or desk. 
When I feel sick I can meet doctors now, but in the future it might be a remote treatment.  I've sought assistance or complained many times about vague government documents- but what can I do now, when the counter is closed and we can do nothing without account IDs and passwords?

20.07.04