TikToker Says America Has No 'Third Spaces' After Europe Trip, and the Internet Is Divided

A two-week trip to Europe sent TikToker Avery Arnett home with a realization she couldn’t shake: she felt happier overseas, and she thinks she knows why. In a now-viral video, she declared that“there are no third spaces in America”— a term sociologists use for the places where people gather outside of home and work, like cafes, parks, and bars, without needing to spend much money. She pointed to her own Texas community, criticizing its car-dependent layout and the way every town looks like the same chain-store blur.

The internet split fast. Some commenters agreed, blaming car dependency and the slow decline of community life for the way so many neighborhoods feel lonely and unwalkable. Others pushed back, arguing she was describing suburban Texas, not the entire country, and pointing to walkable cities like Hoboken, New Jersey, and the free public beaches of Southern California as proof that third spaces do exist.

The concept itself is nothing new — sociologist Ray Oldenburg coined“third space”in his 1989 book“The Great Good Place.”But Arnett’s frustration clearly struck a nerve, because she says she’s now considering opening her own cafe or bar to create the gathering place she feels is missing. So we want to know: does your community have a third space, or are you driving twenty minutes just to see another human?