Hi Alan.
Hi Zack.
[Zack] So Alan, the book you’ve been writing, what’s it about?
[Alan] Ironically, that’s the simplest yet hardest question you could ask—it involves a few things. Okay, in one sentence: The book presents a remedy for some of the social diseases that afflict society today.
[Zack] Sounds ambitious.
[Alan] Well it is and it isn’t.
[Zack] Now it sounds complicated.
[Alan] It involves a lot of different yet interconnected behaviors. Let’s try this: When I say social diseases afflicting society, what does that make you think?
[Zack] Well, social diseases are problems people have, right? They’re things like drug addiction, suicide, murder, crime, plus social isolation which is kind of a new thing.
[Alan] So what’s the usual treatment for these kinds of things? And by the way, the issue of social isolation has been around a long time; we just haven’t paid much attention to it until social networking and media made things so bad we had to notice.
[Zack] Okay, treatments: so for substance abuse we have 12 step programs, therapy, and pharmaceuticals. For suicide, there’s an 988 phone hotline, and pharmaceuticals. For things like murder, shootings, and crime—tough one—taking away guns has been problematic; problems like these have been linked to a range of things, like economic struggles, substance abuse, and social isolation. The treatments would be to offer good paying jobs and substance abuse therapies. And social isolation? This has been linked to excessive electronic media usage, so a treatment would be to reduce media usage. But effects are often temporary.
[Alan] Very reasonable—12 step programs, therapy, pharmaceuticals, 988 phone hotline, jobs programs, reducing social media contact—but as you point out, treatments can be temporary. As a society, we haven’t really pursued a root cause for these problems, we just keep missing the obvious. Years ago, there was a term advertised as a root cause to many social problems, it was called family values. The idea was that someone’s problems could be traced back to their unstable or unhealthy family life. Some made fun of this because it seemed an oversimplification, it was seen as denial. However, the idea was actually pointed in the right direction, they just didn’t think broadly enough.
[Zack] What’s the right thing they were pointing to: family, or values?
[Alan] I’m sure they thought values was the important part, it was family they should have focused on—extended family, and extended extended family.
[Zack] I know what extended family means.
[Alan] Extended extended is your local community, in this case everyone that you can come into contact with besides family and friends: neighbors, shopkeepers, patrons in the library, strangers on the street who say hello.
[Zack] So you’re saying the social problems people face can all be traced back to their local community?
[Alan] It’s complicated.
[Zack] I thought so.
[Alan] But, yes. Most of what negatively affects people can be, if not eliminated, at least mitigated by what local communities could do if they functioned the way they should.
[Zack] That’s a big IF: it sounds like the fine print that means I really didn’t win the sweepstakes.
[Alan] It does, doesn’t it. But really, the best way that anyone can really be reached for treatment is where they live: Your substance abuser? Twelve step programs know the value of community support; same with suicide and social isolation; many forms of social aggression can be countered by closer contact with supportive neighbors and friends. “It takes a village.”
[Zack] Sounds a bit pie in the sky to me: one simple solution for everyone’s problems.
[Alan] It would be if it were that simple. Communities need to change and adopt social networking similar to what we had before the Internet. That’s a simple way of saying we all need more intimate social contact in all areas of our lives.
[Zack] Sounds complicated, I’ll wait for the book.

The Center of Trust:
From Industrial Revolution to Community Revolution