Autumn is here, leaves are changing color, and the air is crisp, but at Ilmatsalu Youth Center, it's warm and increasingly lively. Our team dreams that this house will become an even more open and versatile place where not only young people but all residents of Ilmatsalu and its surroundings feel welcome. Our house now also has a position called community specialist, and all youth workers are named community youth workers. I will briefly open up the concept of community and just one of many reasons why communities and their role are important.
The concept of "community" has become very popular and is used quite often. Community is an integral part of everyday life, and although it is intuitively understood, it has several layers of meaning (Narusson, 2024). For example, not all human groupings are communities – a local government is a local government, a family is a family, a team is a team (Narusson, 2024). Alison Gilchrist has pointed out that the main characteristics of a community are social relationships, connectedness, shared activities, as well as sharing a place and culture, and support in everyday matters necessary for living and survival (Gilchrist, 2019). Why might we need communities?
Today's fast-paced life and different ways of spending time have created a gap between generations. People of different ages no longer interact on a daily basis as they did in the past. They greet each other politely in the stairwell or exchange glances on public transport. The potential for mutual knowledge, support, and exchange of experiences between generations is hardly being utilized. In the past, it was natural for several generations to live under one roof and take care of each other. In Estonia, it is important to pay more attention to these issues, as this could solve many problems in our society, such as loneliness and mental and physical health issues among the elderly.
One should also consider what it means for a person to be “alone”. How does loneliness affect us? Although all people wish to be happy, feelings of loneliness are present among young people, those who have just become adults, middle-aged individuals, and the elderly, indicating a major societal problem (de Jong-Gierveld, Van Tilburg & Dykstra, 2006). A distinction must be made between loneliness as a subjective feeling of an individual and solitude as an objective choice (de Jong-Gierveld, Van Tilburg & Dykstra, 2006). Loneliness is a subjective phenomenon, meaning people can feel lonely among acquaintances and friends, even without being physically alone (Perlman & Peplau, 1981). To reduce loneliness, strong social connections should be fostered or created. The feeling of loneliness is not prevalent in just one specific generation. It can be experienced by people of all ages, whether they are among others or alone. In today's fast-paced and individualistic world, more attention should be paid to the feeling of loneliness across all generations.
So, feel free to stop by, even just to say hello. Bring a friend along, share your thoughts and dreams with us, so that this house can shine even brighter and be a place you want to return to again and again.
*Community Web. (n.d.). Accessed 19.10.25, https://kogukonnaveeb.ee/
Article: Mari Krüüner
References
de Jong-Gierveld, J., Van Tilburg, T. G. and Dykstra, P. A. (2006). Loneliness and social isolation. In The Cambridge handbook of personal relationships (pp. 485-500). Cambridge University Press.
Gilchrist, A. (2019). The well-connected community: A networking approach to community development (3rd ed.). Bristol: Policy Press.
Narusson, D. (2024). Meanings of Community. Church in the Middle of the Village: Cooperation between Congregation and Community.
Perlman, D. and Peplau, L. A. (1981). Toward a social psychology of loneliness. Personal relationships, 3, 31-56.
