Technological displacement

<p>Functions that used to require a third place — cheap entertainment, low-stakes conversation, killing time in public — were substituted by more palatable home and pocket technology.</p><p>The claim is that the functions third places used to do can now be done without leaving the first place (home), so visit volume and qualifying-site survival fall even when buildings remain. If cheap, nearby, object-rich sites stay full while entertainment technology spreads, this hypothesis fails. If use falls in lockstep with home substitution and remaining sites empty first among people with the best home options, it is still in play.</p><p>Keep this separate from “people want less stranger contact.” Technology can steal the entertainment function while leaving the desire for local regulars intact, or the reverse.</p>