Does (social) design care…?

Recently, several news media reported an unusual circumstance where 70 to 80 strangers formed a ‘human chain’ from the shore to reach a family stuck in a rip current in the sea, in Florida (U.S.A.). Although we are all living in a sea of information and social networks, many of us are also stuck in currents of loneliness and despair while consuming irresponsibly on the one planet we share. If the future is to last forever how can design take care of it? Can the design of social networks enhance care? In a world where everything is connected and some people are lonelier than ever, the design of things and services should enhance social networking in both virtual and physical spaces, for example in the international trend of repair and calibrate workshops. Furthermore, we also need novel legislation that benefits the act of repairing, thus preventing waste and promoting possible and responsible lifestyles for (designed) things and people of the 21st century