They are a ” benefit to mental health ”, because ” they make you feel less alone ”. These are the ” open-air chatter ”, those of the elderly for example, who with a chair in tow find themselves along the streets of Algar, in Andalusia in southern Spain, not far from their home. The opposite of social media, in short, and a reality so much to protect that the mayor of Algar José Carlos Sánchez has nominated the country of 1,400 souls to be recognized as a UNESCO heritage. “It’s the opposite of social media – he told the Guardian -. It’s about face-to-face conversations.”
Sánchez recently applied to Unesco for this habit to be added to the organization’s list of intangible cultural heritage, hoping that it will be included in the catalog that ranges from the art of Neapolitan pizza to sauna culture in Finland to mowing grass. in Bosnia and Herzegovina. “We want to get people back to chat outside and not on Facebook, or to stay home and watch television,” said the mayor. He himself spends his summer evenings chatting on the doorstep of his 82-year-old mother and lists a series of benefits this brings: from the energy savings obtained by turning off the air conditioning to the sense of community that is created between neighbors who comment on the events of the day. or the latest gossip.
Furthermore, “the villagers go out onto the streets and instead of feeling lonely, what they get is a therapy session,” said the 38-year-old mayor. “They share their stories or the problems they are going through and the neighbors try to help them,” he added. Sanchez’s proposal was enthusiastically received by the villagers. “I have not received any criticism so far, everyone is very happy,” he said, still expecting a slow process, which could take years.
Meanwhile, ” in Madrid they are getting to know Algar. Also in Barcelona. And in many other regions. So we are providing free publicity to the municipality, “he stressed.