How Convenience is Fueling Calgary's Loneliness Epidemic

"Convenience" is the enemy of "community," and it’s the reason why you feel disconnected from yourself and your peers.

People nowadays opt for solitary, convenient activities that limit the amount of “unnecessary” face-to-face interactions they encounter on a daily basis. This includes telling a barista their coffee order, going inside the grocery store to buy groceries, or watching a movie in the theatre. These activities can be replaced with a mobile coffee order on the Starbucks app, scheduling grocery pick up from the Walmart website, or opting for a Netflix movie at home.

Convenience as a replacement for social interaction is the reason behind the decline in community.

Community is SUPPOSED to be inconvenient:

It means helping your friend move into their home, or picking your sister up from the airport.

Community is NOT:

Sending them a link to a moving company or getting them an uber.

Couple that in with a busy work or school schedule, a gig economy, and a year of quarantine due to the infamous COVID-19 pandemic, then you raise a generation who struggles to meet their mental and social needs.

Gen Zs and Millennials are faced with problems that previous generations have not encountered in the past:

• a hustle and burnout culture

• a cost of living crisis

• a lack of free third spaces

• digital overload and social media pressure

• a polarized society with widespread misinformation

At the root of these issues lie two relentless forces that start with the letter "C:" capitalism and consumption. Both need each other to survive.

Capitalism tells us to work harder, be productive, and optimize our time so we can reward ourselves with consumption. Consumption is the addictive, endless scroll that tells us what we want and keeps us wanting more while never being satisfied.

The only way to feed this insatiable desire is to feed into capitalism.

This means prioritizing work to afford life instead of living it. Capitalism and consumption blur the lines between needs and wants through commodification. Basic needs like food, clothing, water, shelter, and sleep turn into diet culture, fast fashion, flavoured water, luxury homes, and sleeping pills with increasing price tags.

When work isn't enough to afford and keep up with such "needs," this leads people to commodify the self to maximize profit and productivity. This looks like monetizing hobbies, building a personal brand, freelancing, weaponizing therapy speak, and many more.

What this leads to is isolation and the erosion of the self, making authentic connections difficult. This is because relationships are viewed as transactional rather than a means for understanding and belonging.

Many people are now accustomed to this isolated dynamic so they yearn to return to themselves and be more present with their surroundings and peers.

Both generations long for a fun and cheap way to skip the awkward small talk, jump into deep, meaningful conversations with strangers and find people with similar interests and values.

Fortunately, such a way exists. And ironically enough… It involves consumption that nurtures the soul.

It’s called Boozy Lectures.

Every week at Civic Tavern, for 45 minutes, you can learn something new from a college professor or industry professional on a random, intellectual topic that entices discourse. Topics can range from history, philosophy, religion, politics, business, law, science, technology, and many more.

Nervous about talking to strangers? It’s called “Boozy” Lectures for a reason.

Civic Tavern will be serving drinks throughout the event to take the edge off - making connecting with like minded individuals THAT much easier.

Guests are greeted with a thought-provoking question or prompt on a white board that acts as an ice breaker. It serves as a way to encourage them to converse outside of the usual small or “work” talk.

Some of the ice breaker questions in the past include:

• "Should we prioritize individual freedom or collective well-being?"

• "Does morality exist without humans to perceive it?"

• "Does society need inequality to function?"

The first lecture that turned this event into a local sensation was by a University of Calgary instructor named Alèn Martel who specialized in Dance Research. He introduced the concept of the Panopticon by opening the lecture with a hypothetical:

"It's 2AM and you're stopped at a red light. There are no cameras or sign of life anywhere - so no animals, no pedestrians, no police. Do you run the red light?"

The attendees were divided in their answers, excitedly discussing among themselves and sharing their thoughts with the class. Through this, everyone was eager and open to lean more about this strange social construct that defined surveillance, morality and power.

By popular demand, Alèn returned for another lecture to discuss the concept of assigning gender and sexuality to certain body movements. This includes wrist-flicking which is often tied to gay men, or hip-shaking which is often tied to women. He asks the class why we make such connections when all genders and sexualities have wrists and hips that move in the same manner.

Alèn is one of the many amazing instructors Boozy Lectures has featured. They have also featured professors in psychology, sociology and communications as well as respected lawyers, doctors and engineers in their respective fields just to name a few. Boozy Lectures can double as a subtle networking event without the awkwardness and desperation that comes with it.

All it's going to take is a little bit of inconvenience. This means coming to Civic Tavern after a long day at work or school on a Thursday evening for an unforgettable opportunity to connect and learn. From there, it's smooth sailing - drinks, good conversations, new friends and becoming the most interesting person at your next social gathering.

How does it work?

What: Boozy Lectures

When: Every Thursday at 6 pm

Where: Civic Tavern

How much: $10 covers the ticket and one drink (alcoholic or non-alcoholic).

Lectures run for 45 minutes and may include voluntary class participation like breaking out into discussion groups, writing down answers on the board, etc. Guests are welcome to stay and mingle as long as they wish after the lecture. This is a safe space to learn and express your deepest thoughts and opinions.

The goal is to innovate the way community is built by offering a unique learning experience without the boring, formal setting or the pressure of grades.

Learning can now be accessible, social, casual and more importantly, fun.

You are guaranteed to come out more connected, smarter, confident… and drunker.

If you're looking for the coolest thing to do in Calgary, you might have just found it. Come to the next Boozy Lecture to let the cool people find you too!

Follow Boozy Lectures on Instagram/TikTok/SubStack: @boozylecturesyyc