I was hanging out with a friend one time, and we were talking about a trip we were going on with other friends to San Diego, and my friend talked about how wonderful it was going to be to lie on the couch and text while in San Diego.  So I responded, “You are going to San Diego to text?”  He replied, “Yeah, but it’s San Diego, so there will be a difference.”

Looking back on this now, I realize that my friend had a grasp (although very weak) of a concept, which is how places are different, but he also experienced placelessness.

Placelessness has become a bigger problem following the digital revolution and digital communication.  While before the digital revolution, we had a somewhat clear sense of place, with different spaces being set apart for different functions such as home, church, schools, parks, beaches, amusement parks, concert halls, and theaters, that sense of place has been disappearing with the constant distractions and interruptions of digital technology.

If everywhere we go, we check our phones for texts, or Facebook and Twitter for status updates, or check one of a million other possible notifications related to our apps, then we will lose our sense of place.  Every place becomes a place for texts, news, and notifications, and the functions that separate and distinguish each place from another become blurred.

However, placefulness, the strong sense of place and the distinctness that each place has, helps us in three ways.

1. Placefulness shows us distinction

In my article, “The Notification Went Off,” I consider how we are significantly defined by the place where we live and belong.  Many different ways of life depend on the place where we are.  A farmer is defined by his place, which is a farm.  A surfer is defined by his place, which is a beach.  A large business executive is largely defined by being in a city, where large businesses establish themselves.  A farmer cannot exist if he only lives in a large, metropolitan city; he needs the land to farm.  A surfer cannot exist on the farms of the Midwest; he needs a beach, water, and a surfboard.  A large business executive cannot exist in the middle of a desert; he needs an office building to serve as his headquarters, and have a large network of people available to him immediately in order for his company and team to run effectively and efficiently.  If any one of these people were removed from their places and were put somewhere else other than their specific environments, they would have a major problem and would long for the places they have left.  They would also give up their old ways of life because they would not be possible to continue in their new environments.  Soon, these people will come to be defined by the places where they now live.

By knowing our place, and appreciating it with its many distinctions, we learn to value different types of environments.

If we are constantly occupied with our phones and digital devices, then we will lose the sense of distinction that each place has.  Everywhere will simply be another place to text, check statuses or notifications.  Life will become boring at that point, and we will simply lose interest in different places.  The distinctions will become blurred due to a constant moving between virtual reality and reality.

2. Placefulness teaches us value

After we grasp that each place is distinct from other places, and not every place is supposed to have the same exact activities as every other place like texting, then we begin to give different values to each place.

Often, we hear mention of politicians who go to church to pray for guidance.  One of the things this action shows is that these politicians recognize that a church is a place that has been set apart for prayer and seeking God.

When we learn to give different values to different places, this leads to ideas such as pilgrimages to holy places or even when we visit landmarks or historical places.  We do not visit them just because they are popular, but we visit them because of the meaningful events that have occurred in those places, and we want to get as close as possible to the places where historical and spiritual figures we admire and follow once walked and taught.

3. Placefulness creates an atmosphere

After we recognize the distinctness of a place, and we value a place in a specific way, then soon we become aware of the atmospheres that pervade different types of places.

At the San Diego trip I was on, my friends sat there and put their heads down facing away from the beach.  I wondered, they often complained about our city, but now they were here, and even one of them said, “It is so boring here.”

To contrast, I went to Utah the following year by myself, and I sat in the Assembly Hall on Temple Square.  I could already tell this building was old, built in the 1800s.  When I walked in, I could immediately sense an atmosphere of respect of the arts.  I sat in the pews with a friend of mine who lives in Utah, and we remained silent for a short time just taking in the atmosphere.  There had been many generations of people who had walked in here, sat in here, and attended performances in here.  This place had been set apart and continues to be set apart for performances of the arts.  The presence was strong, but that presence is there because millions of people have come to this building, recognized its distinctness, and realized its value.

What places have a special meaning for you?  What do you do there?  How valuable are your places?  Would your life be the same without them?