Amarbir Singh

English 113B
Professor Santosh Khadka
March 23, 2016
Snapchat and Caf as Third Spaces
According to sociologist Ray Oldenburg, the third space is a space where people meet to
unwind, discuss and talk about things that matter to them, their neighborhood and their
community, where they can let down their guard, relax, be themselves, develop new friendships
and deepen existing ones (16). Third Space has many different explanations, but it is the place
where we exist in the period in which we transfer from one space to another space. All the
activities that people perform in their free time for enjoyment are also considered Third Space
but sometimes these activities are used too much, that they dont work as Third Space, the social
media sites are a good example of it. In this essay, I am going to discuss how created for
functioning as a Third Space, the social media websites, specially Snapchat is not working as a
Third Space and also making it harder for other Third Spaces, like restaurants, to work like a
Third Space.
Every third space cannot be applied to everyone who exists in that space. Different
people tend to have different third spaces. According to Homi K. Bhabha, one of the most
important figures in post-colonial studies, Third Space Theory explains the uniqueness of each
person, actor or context as a hybrid (55). So I think he means that the third space for a person
defines how that person is unique and similar to others. So there will be people who prefer
restaurant as a third space and people who prefer Snapchat as third space. But there can also be

people who exist in the restaurant, but the restaurant is not a third space for them and people who
use Snapchat but not as a third space.
The restaurant is
considered as a Third
Space because it is a good
place to get rid of stress
from work and relax in
the free time. People tend
to spend time in the
restaurants for various

Figure 1 People communicating in a restaurant.

reasons, which fulfill their needs to relax in the free time. Famous journalist and cartoonist Joe
Sacco writes, Id much rather hang out in a restaurant; thats where things are happening
(BrainyQuotes, Web). Communicating with others is a very good practice for a healthy brain.
Sitting in a place like restaurant or caf refreshes the brain which is very helpful to get ready for
the next task.
Social media websites were created to serve the similar purpose. There are many kinds of
social media platforms; Snapchat is one of them. Social media websites were created for using to
connect with friends and work like a Third Space. Snapchat is a video messaging application
created by Evan Spiegel. There are approximately 200 million active users daily. People take
pictures of anything they like and then upload it to show to their friends. It is a very good way to
interact with family and friends and relax in the free time. If we are not replacing our daily
activities by taking pictures and uploading them, then Snapchat can represent what a third space

is meant to do. People can discuss matters of their lives on Snapchat and refresh their mind
before transferring from one space to another.
Even though Snapchat can be represented as an example of third space, some people can
get addicted to it. People are too obsessed with their points and number of snaps they share with
their friends on Snapchat that they spend too much time on Snapchat. I interviewed one of my
friend Kaela Garcia, who
said she uses Snapchat

most of

the time in the day, and she

uses it to get away from the
real world (Kaela). If we are
focusing more on Social
media like Snapchat, even
more than our actual

Figure 2 People focusing on Electronic devices rather than Communicating

life like Kaela, then we will get distracted from our first and second spaces, and this can cause
the Social media not to work as a third space.
Snapchat addiction can have serious effects on someones mental and physical health.
Robert L. Leahy, an expert in the field of Psychology, writes, The average high school kid today
has the same level of anxiety as the average psychiatric patient in the early 1950s ( Leahy,
How big a problem is Anxiety). According to Dr. Leahy, one reason for this is also a lack of
participation in the community. Kids in the 21st century prefer social media over participating in
community activities. Snapchats CEO Evan Spiegel said in an interview that their main goal is
to make money. For making money through ads, they can sell users private information to third

party companies. So Snapchat or any Social media websites should be used very carefully, and
we should limit the use of these sites.
I went to the dining area of Sierra Centre Food Court, and I observed many people taking
pictures of food or busy with their electronic devices rather than talking to their friends and
relaxing. A study was done by an anonymous New York restaurateur and published in Web
magazine Craiglist rants and raves board, average time people take in a restaurant from start to
finish in 2004 was 1 hour and 5 minutes while in 2014 it was 1 hour and 55 minutes (David
McCormack, DailyMail.com). They are mainly blaming taking pictures of food for this reason.
We can understand this problem from this news headline, LA restaurant offers discounts to
phone-free diners- Yahoo News. People tend to spend more time in the restaurant If they are
also using social media, so LA restaurants offer discounts so that people in their restaurant only
focus on eating and not sit there for anything else. If we are going to a restaurant for asking the
wifi password and sitting there taking pictures of food, then the restaurant do not represent the
properties of a third space.
The restaurant or caf is a very good resource to get ready for the next task and refreshing
our brain. Snapchat also represents the third space for some people if we do not overuse it. Either
one of these cannot be denied as a third space independently and as a persons choice, but
sometimes we overuse these spaces which waste our time and affect the way we interact with
other spaces. Social media platforms like Snapchat do not represent the properties of a third
space if we use these in the time we were supposed to perform another task like order our food in
the restaurant. If Spaces like restaurant or Snapchat are used to relax and as a helper for
transitioning from one space to another then they are considered as a third space. But if we are
spending too much time on these third spaces that it is affecting another space in a negative way,

then they cannot be considered as third spaces. A specific Space is the third space or not a third
space depends on the user and how the user uses them.

Work Cited
"Joe Sacco." BrainyQuote.com. Xplore Inc, 2016. 9 April 2016.
http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/j/joesacco351134.html
Bhabha, Homi K. The Location of Culture. Abingdon: Routledge, 2004. Print
Eaves, Kyle. People eating in the restaurant. Photograph. Metrobroker.com. Web. April 9, 2016.
Garcia, Kaela. Personal interview. March 12, 2016.
Leahy, Robert L. How big a problem is Anxiety. Psychology Today. April 30, 2008. Web.
April 8, 2016.
McCormack, David. Cell phones slowing down service in restaurants. DailyMail.com. July 14,
2014. Web. April 8, 2016.
Oldenburg, Ray. The Great good place. New York: Marlowe & Company, 1999. Print.
Toomer, Jessica. People using social media. Photograph. Guidepost. Web. April 8, 2016.