Social Interaction Critical Mass Theory

I just had an interesting thought today. As an engineer, I tend to see graphs in my head, but I will attempt describe it in words. I was pondering a small event today.

We went to a neighbor's home and got some cupcakes. We were actually offered them. I couldn't pass that up!

Then I thought I would trace back the events leading to this taking place. Well, Nate and I play racquetball on Tuesdays whenever possible. That gives a forum to make other plans, and we were invited to his home to watch a Jazz game. The game I will not talk about, as it was somewhat depressing (Jazz Vs. Suns.) Anyhow, I had a great time over there. Joanna didn't make it there with me, and Judd's wife didn't either. They both had other things to get done. Kim was making food for a bridal shower, Joanna was taking care of a mountain of clothes. We both told our wives they could ditch their responsibilities, but being better and more industrious, they chose differently.

Judd and I left the Tanner's home together around midnight, and he commented that she would be up until 2 AM cooking.

The next day at church, we chatted in the hall, and I asked how the cooking marathon went. A discussion ensued, and I was invited to come get some cupcakes.

Coming back around, this is the string of events that led to cupcake acquisition.

It was while pondering on this that I thought up the Social Interaction Critical Mass Theory. I am sure this is all well documented and there are probably studies on this, but it's new for me.

The postulation is that social interaction is difficult and laborious atomically. Well, it always has been for me anyway. One has to seek opportunities, put oneself "out there." Essentially, when building a social life initially, much work has to be put into it.

Over time, however, with sufficient work and frequency of social interaction, events start leading to other events, a shared context is developed in a social group, and at a certain point, socialization within this group becomes almost self-sustaining. It is at this level that good friendships are often formed.

The cupcake acquisition chain of events is an example of the shared context that can lead to a self-sustaining social group.

Now, some people have a knack for this thing, and doing the work to create sustaining social groups isn't so hard for them. For most people, however, the many pulls of life make it hard to reach the critical mass necessary for such a self-sustaining group to form.

But the overarching picture in my head is a graph with time on the X axis and the "relative stength" of the social group on the other. There are then events that push the line up, increasing the bonds of the group, and others that pull the line down. The line by default will drop over time without events to strengthen the group. I also imagine a dotted horizontal line that indicate the critical mass where the group becomes self sustaining, or at which point members of the group don't have to think, "I really ought to call so and so up, it's been a while." But instead the group gets together on whims or one event leads to another, etc.

I think I am done pontificating on this one. It is a skill that can be lost as we get older, or perhaps it is just one that transfers to our families as it takes time for a social group to maintain itself. As families are built, time is spent on them, and they become these primary social units, at least for many of us. And I think that is good.

I am still thinking of how this phenomenon could help neighborhoods and larger groups of people coalesce into strong social units. Is there time in our busy lives to put into both of these social structures, family and neighborhood, so they can both get into the areas of critical mass where the strong sense of family and community will pervade us? Would it be worth the sacrifice of some of life's many distractions to prioritize? I tend to think so. But that initial push to get up to the critical mass, that takes more time, more energy than to keep it going. And it would take a coordinated effort of many people at the same time for it to really take place.

Now I am supposed to close with something profound. But I really don't have it. I guess a quote or two would do:

"We can begin by doing small things at the local level. That is how change takes place in living systems, not from above but from within, from many local actions occurring simultaneously."
-- Grace Lee Boggs

There is more than a verbal tie between the words common, community, and communication.... Try the experiment of communicating, with fullness and accuracy, some experience to another, especially if it be somewhat complicated, and you will find your own attitude toward your experience changing.
-- John Dewey