There are a couple of coffee shops in San Francisco, for example—and I won’t name them only because I don’t want to encourage crowds—where there is silence because everyone is engrossed in their laptops. You can walk into these places and 30 or 40 pairs of eyes are illuminated by screen lighting. There is no conversation, not even recognition of other human life forms. Perhaps the most bizarre sight is a table for four, with four dedicated souls ignoring each other and having eyes only for their homework, gossip sites, or IM.
Should Starbucks ban laptops?, in CNET
There’s a general assumption in articles like these that it would be better—not just financially beneficial to coffee shops, but flat-out better, say, for humanity—if folks socialized more, and typed less, in coffee shops. This assumes a few things.
- That people go to places like coffee shops because they want to talk and meet other people and not, for example, enjoy a pleasant cup of steaming brew while musing, daydreaming, or thinking deeply in a place designed for relaxing imbibition.
- That when folks are on their computers, they’re not socializing.
- That there is something wrong with sitting silently but comfortably in a group of similarly-engaged companions if that activity involves one’s laptop (quiet study groups, or people reading books, appear to be above criticism).
- That it is better to talk to the people around you than to be silent and engrossed in an activity.
- That choosing one’s computer over contact with strangers is bad.
- That one should reasonably expect a coffee shop to be a lively and social place.
- That working on a laptop excludes the possibility of conversation, with friends or with strangers.
I think that most folks who have worked on laptops in coffee shops for any period of time would know most, if not all, of these assumptions aren’t true. The coffee shops that I have known and loved best, the ones with the strongest community, are those that allow people to comfortably do whatever it is they’d like to do at that coffee shop.
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