Frugal Musings: What Happened to Sharing?

I just returned from the public library which I have been trying to frequent more often.  I browsed the sections on pilates manuals and on financial history.  Then, of course I had to check out the cookbooks, and some of the recently published magazines.  I skipped the CDs this time, but will often checkout a classical CD, especially from the instrumental section. I asked the librarian about a newer release title, and she indicated that it was checked out, but I could request it back and the library would send me an email when the current reader returned it, and they would put it on hold for me to pick up (this is a great service, but I always feel guilty requesting it back from the current reader). The whole time at the public library got me to thinking, what has happened to the concept of sharing? I mean today, with all of the enforcement of copyright, emphasis on owning things, do we really remember how to share?

There are a number of areas where it was common to share things previously where today that seems antiquated, among them, shared bathrooms, shared telephone line, including party lines, shared cars, and shared computer usage.  Although there are certain conveniences to having your own of everything, I think the lack of sharing has led to a lack of development of the social skills that sharing cultivates and traits such as cooperation, coordination of scheduling, and other things.  I can also remember back in the days of the mainframe computer, when you had to sign up for specific computer time (I think this was back in the days of the dinosaur FORTRAN), most people became very efficient during their time slot as someone else was waiting to log on. There are also some shared practices that are good for the waistline, such as sharing  dessert when going out, or splitting a giant restaurant portion.

With the economic-induced frugality trend, I have noticed the parking lot at the library a lot fuller.  I’ve also read a lot about recommendations on sharing a restaurant meal.  Environmental concerns have helped many of the shared car initiatives take off in many cities in the US, and Craigs List has certainly enabled people to post ride-share information for carpooling on road trips.  It will be interesting to see if this trend toward sharing will endure beyond this particular business cycle.

see the call for suggestions and giveaway running until May 9th

see other suggestions at the Festival of Frugality