"Won't you be my neighbor?" is a famous song from Mister Rogers' Neighborhood, a popular children's television show. The show, broadcast for 31 years and ending in 2001, sought to teach American children the importance of kindness and understanding towards others. But recently fewer and fewer Americans seem to know their neighbors. That may be destroying Americans communities.
Marc Dunkelman wrote a book called "The Vanishing Neighbor". In it, he examined how American communities have changed over time. Dunkelman said most Americans have three levels of relationships: The inner circle includes family and close friends. The middle circle is more casual relationships. People in this circle include neighbors and people in community groups. The outer circle includes people who live far away but share a common interest.
In his book, Dunkelman argued that people spend most of their time and attention on the inner and outer circles. But he said the middle-circle is necessary to strengthening local communities. Relationships with neighbors are important for debate, hearing different ideas and finding compromise.
Americans used to have more middle-circle relationships. Face-to-face communication was unavoidable without cell phones or the internet. People also felt more of a duty to join community organizations.
Dunkelman argued that modern life has made middle-circle relationships less important. He said globalization, education and more women in the workforce have resulted in less middle-circle communication. Americans may be losing what it means to be a good neighbor, as Fred Rogers of Mister Rogers Neighborhood taught.
However; doing good for a neighbor is healthy "not just for our neighbor but for ourselves as well," Dunkelman said. "Learning how to be a good citizen can be lost when we defer the problem to somebody else."
