I imagine most communities are like the one I live in, which means residents are becoming more and more distant even though they live in close proximity. We have buildings with 18 or more units together and residents do not know and may not have ever seen people who live two stacks over. You may wonder how this is possible when you live in such close proximity to your neighbors.
I spent a while trying to understand why out of 166 families in our community I probably know about 20 by name and another dozen by sight. The rest of I could pass in the street and never know they were my neighbor.
What I came up with was:
- Our schedules have gotten busier,
- most of our entertainment is delivered right to our home,
- many of us have been taught to fear the unknown, so it is no wonder we do not know our neighbors.
Social Networks are taking on new life
The next generation of social networking is emerging and freeing us from the strangle hold and open nature of the top social networks. The new social networks sites actually let us create our own social networks where we can choose to only open the network up to a select few.
What does this have to do with planned communities? If social network sites connect people from around the world, why not to connect the person right next door. With this new generation of online social networks you can create a custom site that is only open to your residents of the community and their families. A private social network eliminates the spam, unwanted contacts from complete strangers, and the fear of predators.
Experts are predicting that most businesses, families, and other groups will have their own social network within the next 5 years. Using these new software sites, this just may become a reality sooner than they believe.
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