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Ruari Elkington's avatar

Hi Chris, you've identified a pressing issue that needs attention and political action now. Broadly, I think the function of arts & culture in communities, and the role of federal, state and local gov to directly support that community connection through culture is missing from your analysis and proposed interventions. I'm not highbrow about this, everything from experimental theatre to monster trucks shows should be in the mix. But people need to leave their homes. And they need to connect and be celebratory in that connection with their community. Cinemagoing has done this for well over a century.

To your point:

"Globalization has erased thousands of healthy, unique downtowns where people often met each other at local businesses. And that outsourcing of commerce online has also diminished local cultures that facilitate connection, identity, and meaning."

Cinemas are community hubs that traditionally have been anchor tenants for downtown areas. They are sites of blockbuster escapism and art cinema. They are economic multipliers for local hospitality businesses and suppliers. They are places of connection and social celebration. And they need support. There are many excellent case studies of communities stepping up to revitalise, fundraise and run cinemas a community initiatives, but there's a lot that gov can do to address the financial and other access barriers to enable more frequent and more diverse cinemagoing at a community level.

Also "We have guidelines for nutrition and physical activity and sleep. We should have these guidelines for social connection."

Maybe social connection guidelines could start with identifying the most popular, most accessible cultural activity that drives, and is driven by, actual social connection where people leave their homes to be with others? To be super clear, cinemagoing is not a cure for loneliness, but it's an under-appreciated and tragically under-utilised lever government could pull to better support communities.

What's your favourite Western Conneticut cinema? Ask them what they know about building community and reducing social isolation and loneliness, you might be surprised!

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ronnie denburg's avatar

I don't know how much of our loneliness is due to globalization per se, but if it's what supports Walmart and Amazon decimating local shops and communities, then how do we turn back the clock and get people to spend more money on items locally? And how do we get people (me included) from being entertained nightly on their 65" screens with the best TV in history, and back to socializing with friends and neighbors? And how do we get people disenchanted with their places of religion back into the pews if they don't like what these religious institutions are offering them?

Clearly social media is both helpful and destructive as you have written. But how do we stop young people from partaking when that's what youth are naturally focused on? And how do we stop alternate versions of reality in a post-truth society? And what the hell do we do about a fast-paced changing culture which benefits some but turns others off both emotionally and economically? And what about the coming AI revolution which every AI expert says is going to cause more change, more quickly, than any previous tech change, including destroying millions of jobs over the coming years? Need I say anything about the coming avalanche of humanoid robots that within a decade will be capable of displacing human labor in jobs people actually want to work in (as opposed to humanoids in the initial years doing crappy, dangerous jobs nobody really wants)?

I agree these are foundational, existential problems demanding immediate attention, and therefore am so glad you, and others, are addressing them. I hope many others quickly join you. So I wish you and other lots of luck. We need it. (Because as a retired teacher who taught sociology, economics and history, I find it hard to imagine solid solutions even on the horizon.)

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