Touch Grass: The Power of the Tangible
A low-fi instrumental softly plays in the background.
Conversations carry throughout the room, some heavy and some light, but all with love and mutual respect. People speak about grief, loss, love, and the longing to belong. Others sit in quiet reflection. Laughter is a constant as people connect on the unique memories of what makes Philadelphia feel like home.
This was the scene at a Moment of Sharing, an event curated by the Lab to open space for conversations about grief, loss, and well-being.
As I wandered with my camera, taking photos, there was a moment where it clicked. In a world so dominated by digital interactions, there is real power in the tangible.
These moments cannot be replicated. AI couldn’t produce this.
There is strength in community. There is something grounding about looking someone in the eye, about exchanging words and energy in real time. The bonds that form in those spaces have weight. A brainstorm over coffee, a debate that ends with a handshake, or a moment of silence shared between strangers. All of it carries meaning.
It reminds me of what I often hear from elders: “The kids don’t play like how we used to.” And they are right. Somewhere along the way, play got pushed aside. And as adults, we have created even fewer places to play, to connect without agenda, to be present with each other in a way that feels human.
As technology has raced forward, we’ve started to lose the plot. Online, it has become easy to dismiss, to insult, to forget that there is a person on the other side of the screen. Empathy gets stripped away when our communication is reduced to comments, likes, and quick reactions.
So what do we do?
We touch grass.
Not just in the literal sense of stepping outside, but in fully immersing ourselves in nature, listening to the wind, feeling the sand under our feet, watching the light change across the day. We carve out intentional moments to gather, to organize, to eat together, to build together, to sit in silence together.
Technology has given us the ability to communicate instantly with anyone, anywhere, but those exchanges are in vain if they do not feed into authentic, layered relationships.
To embrace tangible connection means choosing eye contact over endless scrolling, laughter that fills a room over reaction emojis on a screen. Because no matter how advanced our tools become, the strongest bond will always be the one felt in real time, in real space, face to face.
Rian Watkins is the Design + Community Engagement Officer at the Wealth and Work Futures’ Lab.