Lutantowidjojo 1

Gregory Lutantowidjojo
Professor Santosh Khadka
ENG 113B 11.00
22 March 2016
Third Space the Charm
Everyday people always go to work to live their life or provide their family with
everyday needs. There are these two spaces that what people call their home and their workplace.
People go back and forth to those two spaces, but they also need the "Third space" to take a
breather and balancing those two spaces in their life. Third space is a neutral ground, which
means it is separated from the first space and the second space. Based on what Oldenburg said,
"Third places are "anchors" of community life and facilitate faster broader, more creative
interaction. This essay will explain one digital third place and one physical third place, those are
Facebook and shopping mall. People go to shopping mall and use Facebook to take a break from
their work. Facebook and shopping mall are both called 3rd space and they both help people to
maintain their mind to be able to face the other two spaces in some similar ways. Those two help
people to relax and chill out from heavy burden of their work, help them socialize, and help them
by providing information and needs.
Firstly, Facebook and shopping mall both help people to take their mind off their work.
Like what The development of the Be Active & Relax Vitality in Practice" (VIP) project and
design of an RCT to reduce the need for recovery in office employees said, "Working under
pressure or working with high job demands has a strong negative impact on employees? Health
and well-being, leading to: cardiovascular diseases, low back and neck pain, and psychological
distress." Too much work without resting can be a pain in a butt and also bad for your health. So

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resting in between work is mandatory for continue working. "In particular, engaging in physical
activity results in lower work stress, reduces absenteeism, and improves job satisfaction."
Facebook is a social media where people can check other people statuses or just make friends
and chat. Facebook has this kind of system called the "Like" button to follow and up to date on
that Facebook page. Sometimes those pages like to post some funny pictures or even a funny
video. Facebook also has a couple of games to play, those things prove that it can help people to
lighten up a bit. Shopping Malls are a place where people...shop. People don't always go to
shopping mall just to ship though, sometimes they come there just to warm themselves in the
winter, to hang out with friends, or even just to use the restroom. Sightseeing in shopping malls
can also count as relaxation in mind.
Secondly, Facebook and shopping mall helped them socialize. Facebook is mainly used
for socializing, it is called social media for no reason. Facebook let users communicate and make
friends over at the internet. Facebook also have "Facebook Messenger" that allows people to chat
with a specific friend or even make a group chat with more than two people. Shopping malls are
a good place to shop, but people tend to hang out a lot with their friends the most than other
places. Based on Buying Time: Today's Teens Spend A Lot of Their Mall Time Socializing and
Browsing, But not to Worry. They're still Dropping Shopping Dollars, 47 percent of youths and
young adults had something to eat or drink the last few times they visited a mall. A group 13
percentage points larger than the one that had originally gone to a mall for that reason; 38 percent
hung out with friends, versus the 34 percent who'd had those plans, and 12 percent went to a
movie, compared with the 10 percent who struck out for the shopping emporiums to see one. But
do not worry Shopping mall managers, they still go shopping.

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Thirdly, Facebook and shopping malls both can provide people with almost everything. It means
that those two can provide people with information, for example in Facebook can provide up to
date news through a news page in Facebook like the official Fox Channel News page in
Facebook. You can really see and notified about news by "liking" that page. As for shopping
malls, they provide us with information of prizes of each stuff they sell in different store inside it
for us to compare in other place. Those two also provide us with everything we need. For
example, in Facebook there's always an online shopping page that people "like" to do online
shopping for. Those pages really function as an alternative to shopping online from regular
online shopping websites. In shopping malls, they provide us by having different stores inside it
that sells various stuffs inside each stores. We can buy clothes, foods, DVDs, jewelries, etc.
So in conclusion, Facebook and shopping mall are similar to each other as a third space.
Facebook and shopping malls both help people to relax and chill out from heavy burden of their
work, help them socialize, and help them by providing information and needs. Those two as third
spaces really help people at balancing the other spaces. Third space is very crucial in helping
people to proceed with their love, without it, they would be exhausted and wouldn't be able to
live without stress and pressure.

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Works Cited
Coffeng, Jennifer K., and Ingrid JM Hendriksen. "The Development of the Be Active & Relax
Vitality in Practice (VIP) Project and Design of an RCT to Reduce the Need for
Recovery in Office Employees." Gale. Gale, 2 Aug. 2012. Web. 20 Mar. 2016.
Elkin, Allen. "Relax Already!" Proquest. Proquest, Nov. 2013. Web. 20 Mar. 2016.
Seckler, Valerie. "BUYING TIME: TODAY'S TEENS SPEND A LOT OF THEIR MALL TIME
SOCIALIZING AND BROWSING, BUT NOT TO WORRY. THEY'RE STILL
DROPPING SHOPPING DOLLARS." Proquest. Proquest, 21 July 2005. Web. 19 Mar.
2016.