A New Deal Winter & Christmas: WPA recreation programs vs. social media

Above: The caption for this photo, taken in Minneapolis ca. 1935-1943, reads, "Mrs. Thelma Nemetz, WPA recreation leader at Fairview Park, helps Frances Schmit with her skates." Photo courtesy of the National Archives.

The Final Report on the WPA Program, 1935-43 (1946), notes that "WPA recreation projects provided leadership and instruction in recreational activities of many kinds, supplementing the existing public services of local communities. The aim of this work was the year-round operation of a varied and well-balanced recreation program, including social, cultural, and physical activities, for adults as well as young people" (p. 62).

In America today, we have social interaction and obesity problems. Television, video games, the Internet, texting, celebrity worship, and more, are making us more secluded from one another and more sedentary. In other words, we're fat and lonely. (See, e.g., "Adult Obesity Facts" and "Childhood Obesity Facts," CDC, and also, "Social isolation, loneliness could be greater threat to public health than obesity," Science Daily, August 5, 2017).

In modern America, it seems to me that we are more engaged with technology than we are with each other. Social media (again, as it seems to me) is creating a culture of superficial interaction, perhaps even an excuse not to actually meet and talk to each other in the physical world. This is not to say that social media cannot bring people together, for example, organizing events, meetings, and trips, but the net effect seems to be weighted towards digital interaction, not real-world interaction. This is great for marketing, as we are bombarded with Internet advertising and our personal information is bought, sold, and traded, but perhaps not-so-great for our mental and physical health.

Technology and social media are here to stay, of course (and I'm not oblivious to the fact that I'm being critical of social media on a blog), but perhaps we could still learn a thing or two from the WPA recreation programs, and have a little more balance in our lives. Perhaps social media can do a better job of bringing us together, in the physical world, to talk to each other and also reduce the size of our waistlines.