Discussion will go until 2:30, and child care services will be provided to make it easy for the parents to partake. The Open Space concept makes it easy to join the conversations that interest you, leave early if you need to, or have a group just for socializing if you want to catch up with friends.

While it’s sometimes referred to as the “Male Loneliness Epidemic,” our increasingly disconnected and isolated communities impact us all. Robert Putnam’s book “Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of the American Community” was a groundbreaking work first published in 2000 that made the observation that we once bowled in leagues, but we no longer do. It was also the inspiration for the popular 2023 Netflix documentary “Join or Die.”

Bowling Alone surveyed in detail Americans’ changing behavior over the decades, showing how we had become increasingly disconnected from family, friends, neighbors, and social structures, whether it’s with the PTA, church, clubs, political parties, or bowling leagues. In the revised edition of his classic work, Putnam shows how our shrinking access to the “social capital” that is the reward of communal activity and community sharing still poses a serious threat to our civic and personal health, and how these consequences have a new resonance for our divided country today.

This book will help inform our discussion, but you don’t have to read it to participate! You can also get the Audiobook on Libro.fm and support your local book shop, watch the Join or Die documentary, or watch some of these YouTube videos about the Loneliness Epidemic. We encourage everyone to learn more about the topic before the discussion so we can have more informed and insightful conversations.

• Robert Putnam on the Daily Show: “Join or Die” & Building Communities to Save Democracy (14 minutes)

• Watch the Join or Die documentary on Netflix (90 minutes)

• How is the loneliness epidemic affecting society? (25 minutes)

• US surgeon general declares loneliness epidemic (6 minutes)

• How capitalism causes loneliness (18 minutes)

• Big Think short on The Loneliness Epidemic (2 minutes)

• The Loneliness Epidemic: Why we’re more alone than ever (16 minutes)

• University of Sydney lecture on the Loneliness Epidemic (73 minutes)

• Robert Putnam Harvard Kennedy School Lecture on Bowling Alone (91 minutes)

Fight the loneliness epidemic! Get out of the house and come to the most affordable, friendly, and intellectually engaging Sunday brunch in Knoxville!