Week two critical question

“A sense of connection is the most important part of a community.”

A community is a group of people sharing a space or characteristic. A sense of connection is something between multiple people, created by having things in common or spending time together, also having a reason to keep coming back to a community.

A community is essential held together but connections and connectivity, but there are also many other factors for a good community which makes this an interesting and challenging to answer.

I agree that a sense of connection is the most important aspect of a community because once you remove connection to a community you become less accepted, cease to be part of it and with connection comes things like obligation and a different kind of motivation.

If you are part of a community and you lose connection with it, or if you join a community and the connection doesn’t really develop you generally cease to be part of it. This is because you miss out on important things that make being in a community fun such as: friendships, loyalty, love and inter-personal experiences. For example when I first started swimming in a new swimming pool; once a week I went swimming, did the laps and did what the coach told me to, but all the other kids in my class went to the same school and made no effort to get to know me, As a result I felt disconnected with the people around me, lost the enjoyment and stopped.

Another important part of community is acceptance, however a sense of connection is more important than acceptance because acceptance is useless without connection; there is no point of being accepted into a community if you don’t connect with them, it’s like being accepted into a badminton club when you don’t like badminton, there’s no point.

While on my trail to Brunswick I interviewed a lady, she believed that a sense of connection was important to a community; and she also talked about how diversity can help a community. Diversity does make a community better however it is not the most important factor in a good community. There are communities – especially online – that appeal to an exceptionally niche market or type of person.

A sense of connection also introduces positive things like an obligation to work for the community and motivation, this is because you know the people you are working for and helping; it makes it not all about you and what you get from the community but also about those you know, your friends who you’d be letting down by not turning up to a meeting because you might be tired or not volunteering to fill in a shift because it’s “not your turn”. By knowing the people you are helping better you get the most out of the community that you are part of.

In conclusion a sense of connection is the most important aspect of a community because without connection to a community you cease to be part of it and you won’t be accepted into it. Having a sense of connection also gives you obligation and drive to contribute to your community, and as has been proven by niche online communities; diversity is not vital to a community’s success.