You may belong to several communities and not realize it until one or more are gone.
A community can seem like a group of people who show up at the same place every week without thinking of themselves as anything special. For example, team members across the United States gather weekly to play pickleball. It is one of the fastest growing sports middle life and older age groups, and while they may see it as “just a pickle ball,” it’s much more than that.
A community is a group of people living in a certain area with common interests. It’s not just formal groups or memberships. It includes groups that you meet frequently, share something like an interest, routine or location, and quietly become a part of your life. Everyday examples of communities that most of us take for granted are:
- Regular participants in the gym
- Pickleball Partners
- Dinner groups
- Neighbors
- Religious or voluntary groups
Basically, society consists of coherent, familiar, mutual human relations. It doesn’t have to be highly structured. You don’t have to meet often, and you don’t have to be deeply intimate for it to matter.
I am currently a member of a dinner club where over a dozen women gather for dinner each month, each taking turns planning the event. Most of the members didn’t know each other beforehand, but a few quickly became close. The potential for community building is enormous. Think of simple things like playing sports in the park with regular people, knowing your postal operator or pharmacist by name and face, or being in regular contact with hairdressers, hair stylists and nail technicians. Our communities are built from our regular activities, hobbies, and people we interact with in a way that feels meaningful.
The problem is that most of us devalue society until it disappears. Loss of community can lead to feelings of loneliness or disconnection. It can be a very obvious feeling: there is no one to call or talk to, and no one notices the changes in your life. Community is often invisible when we have it, but undeniable when we don’t have it.
Community as a health intervention
According to the Joint Economic Committee (2018), loneliness has been increasing (almost doubling) for US adults since the 1980s. The World Health Organization (2026) recognizes loneliness as a major health problem. “Social isolation and loneliness is common, with around 16% of people worldwide – one in six – experiencing loneliness. The latest estimates show that loneliness is most common among teenagers and young adults, with people of all ages experiencing loneliness, including the elderly, with approximately 11.8% experiencing loneliness. Numerous studies show that social isolation and loneliness have a serious impact on physical and mental health, quality of life and longevity.
Loneliness is a global crisis. Great Britain created a “loneliness minister” and began “social prescriptions”, which led to the United States. Social prescribing is a health care model in which health professionals refer patients to non-clinical community programs rather than relying solely on medical care. drug. This means that individuals seen by a medical professional may be ‘designated’ programs such as art, sports, gardening, volunteering, coaching and support groups. The possibilities are huge.
Nature (2026) includes improvements to welfare outcomes of social prescriptions. happinesslife satisfaction and decreases worry. When compared to a monetary investment, UK researchers found that investing in ourselves (simply by participating in our community) pays off in health and well-being. It’s never too early to start getting involved in the community. Being aware of the benefits will help you stay connected with us rather than disconnecting.
Some of the emotional benefits of community include: decreases stresslow anxiety, a sense of security and a sense of support. Some physical benefits: lower cortisol, increased oxytocinand improved long-term health.
The subtle power of community connections
As mentioned above, public relations do not have to be formal. Community includes our regular interactions with our neighbors. This includes someone who shovels their neighbor’s driveway when it snows. It includes someone who you notice has been absent for a long time. This is our interaction with our neighbors in the ordinary elevator, hallway and corridor. All of these things make us feel safe and connected. If we don’t see someone for a while, they let us call them (or follow up with someone at the hospital).
Essential Readings on Loneliness
An example of this is a high-level center that realizes that someone hasn’t been in for a few days. They follow them in the hospital and people visit and help. This person may not have realized that he was a part of society, but he was. These free connections are still very valuable and add to the strength of our community and our long-term health and well-being.
The impact of modern life on society
As the digital age allows us to work from home and cars allow us to travel to and from certain destinations, there are fewer opportunities for spontaneous interactions with others. Even with the implementation of WhatsApp chats for communities, most of the members do not know who they are and do not get to know them outside of the chat. Digital connections at work and in our neighborhoods do not equate to embodied communication.
That is, we should not abandon technology as an aid to our communications. We can use technology strategically to help us find our community. AI and other technologies help us find our communities. We can find out what’s available in our local communities and beyond. We can expand our networks with technology, which can lead to greater interaction with others. Technology can lower barriers to community participation as we find like-minded people in chats and online. In fact, that’s how the pickleball chat group started. The community’s once vacant salt flats became regularly used by people meeting them for the first time, and the community thrived.
Here are some ways to build your team
Start small:
- Say hello to the neighbors
- Join a recurring activity
- Accept offers
Reduce friction:
- Start or join a group chat
- Attend free-form meetings
Don’t rely on just one team. Think of your community as a multi-slice pie.
- Geographic (neighbors)
- Activity-based (sports, hobbies)
- Related to work
- Based on interest
Community requires effort and intention. The more energy we put into society, the more we get out of it. Later in life, it is vital to our health and well-being. It’s good to start early, but it’s never too late to start building a community. A 90-year-old man living alone in his apartment with no children or family other than his sister, who lives thousands of miles away, has created a community. Every Wednesday, he invited three neighbor children for ice cream. Her immaculate home was covered in ice cream and she couldn’t be happier. It was such a highlight of the week that when he died a few years later, the children asked to attend his funeral and spoke of the impact he had on their lives. They also changed his life.
