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Guadalupe Cumplido

Professor Santosh

English 113B

March 14, 2016

Rest, Reflect, & Reset

The complex idea of a third space is any place in our lives other than work or home. This place is

used as a focus point of restart. As human beings, we need a break to be able to function with our

daily duties. Most gowned adults have many duties such as work, school, or family, with all of

these responsibilities the third space is a place that can help greatly. Finding a third space can

help many maintain consistency in their duties because a third space is a place where they can

rest, reflect, and reset their priorities as they continue with their day. A third space can be found

in Church and Facebook. These two places can balance the hectic lifestyle of many. Most view

Church as an asset of well-being and encouragement for their lives. In Facebook, people find a

comfortable space for them to stay connected and share posts with people that matter to them.

The first thing that comes to mind when people talk about church is a place where only

religious people spend most of their Sundays. However, for many church members, church has

become a place where they found their third space. The goal of Church is for people to find

peace, unity, and love with members. Church is not only gathering each Sunday but also

volunteering and doing fun events for its members and community. An example is found in the

Shepherd of the Hills Church. They offer so much to its members and community like their

sports for all ages such as basketball, softball, volleyball, soccer, surfing, martial arts. On their

sports website they state their purpose for each of their sports programs. An example is found in

the Adult Sports program page, they state; “at Shepherd is geared for adults who love to play

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sports no matter what level it is. Please join us- all are welcome!” (1). They invite the

community to be part of all of this as well. Another thing the Shepherd of the Hills Church

provides to its community members is wellness. The offer Health and Fitness classes such as

Zumba and Pilates. They state on their web page; “The Health & Fitness Ministry provides

programs that helps you to increase your endurance, strength, and overall health”. They go out of

their way to make their members feel their best and pursue a healthier life style. Lastly, the

church gives encouragement to its members. Each Sunday Pastor Dudley Rutherford gives

sermons of encouragement, motivation, and inspiration. My roommate and I attend every other

Sunday and we believe that Pastor Dudley’s preaching are therapeutic. For instance, last Sunday

he preached about “What is your Purpose?”. It was a very inspirational message because he said

“people have a heart to give and to help, as some like help the homeless, but everyone has a heart

for something. What is your motive in life?” (Rutherford, 3/27/2016) With this one question I

thought about what my motives and goals were at that moment and I was encouraged to continue

strong in school and at work. Church is a great third space for everyone.

Facebook is an online space people use for connecting, sharing, and collaborating with

others. “It allows users to create a network of people with whom they wish to share profile

information, photos, comments, status updates, news” (Lonnqvist, JE, and FG Deters 1). For

example if you are an online user and have a Facebook account you can share what you are

doing at the moment or share a photo of something you liked, then type a description of it, soon

people you have as friends will comment on your post. “Having friends is an important source of

emotional and practical support” (Kim, Junghyun, and Jong-Eun Roselyn Lee 360). On

Facebook, you can easily make friends with one click. Some people use Facebook to only have a

better communication with people they know like family members and close friends however,

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others use it to meet new people and have more friends on Facebook to boost their status. In a

study for Subjective Well-Being levels, “with Facebook visualizing and displaying the ‘‘friends’’

connections, a large number of Facebook friends could remind users of their social connections

and boost their self-esteem, which could, in turn, enhance their SWB levels” (360) Some people

enjoy knowing how many friends they have or how many people add them as their friend on

Facebook. Although Facebook can become a big distraction, it can be a good one because all day

doing many things can make you feel overwhelmed but when you are on Facebook you can feel

less stressed out. Every time I log in to Facebook I like to see funny Vine videos people post on

Facebook and I also like to upload pretty pictures of a trip, things I buy and my good scores on

anything because I like to feel that social support from others. I also like to think Facebook as a

great third space for anyone.

Nevertheless, Church and Facebook are great third spaces but different people have their

own third spaces. For instance, people that don’t attend church or are not religious use other

places as their third space such as the library, a coffee shop, the gym and other more. Similarly,

for people who don’t have any social media like Facebook because they don’t have access to the

internet or a smart device. They do other things to keep them distracted. An example would be

people in rural areas of Mexico use soccer as a third space. They encounter excitement,

encouragement and support from their teammates which most build incredible friendship bonds

throughout the years (Quintana 1). This is similar to social media because they have all the

emotions get on their social media spaces.

Lastly, we have explored some of the aspects that make Church and Facebook great third

spaces. Church involves members and community in great events for wellness and health.

Facebook is a great social space for people to communicate, share funny videos, and post about

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their own life to others and forget about the many duties that bring pressure to them on the daily

basis. However, there are other spaces people connect with other than Church and Facebook,

because of their own free choice or personal situation.

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Work Cited

"Adult Sports." — Shepherd Sports. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Apr. 2016.

"Health & Fitness." — Shepherd Sports. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Apr. 2016.

Kim, Junghyun, and Jong-Eun Roselyn Lee. "The Facebook Paths to Happiness: Effects of the

Number of Facebook Friends and Self-Presentation on Subjective Well-

Being." Cyberpsychology Behavior and Social Networking, 14.6 (2011): 359-364.

Lonnqvist, JE, and FG Deters. "Facebook Friends, Subjective Well-being, Social Support, and

Personality." Computers in Human Behavior, 55 (2016): 113-120.

Quintana, Chris. "The Gift of Soccer. "The Santa Fe New Mexican, (2013).

Rutherford, Dudley. “What is your Purpose?”. Shepherd of the Hills Church, Porter Ranch. 27

Mar. 2016. Preaching.