Comments on: Are laptops ruining the coffee shop?

By: Joe McCarthy

Joe McCarthy — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 01:44:46 +0000

The Economist, in an article on “The New Oases”, included a great quote from James Katz describing this phenomenon: “physically inhabited but psychologically evacuated”. Keith Hampton and Neeti Gupta, in a study on Community and social interaction in the wireless city: wi-fi use in public and semi-public spaces, noted the “contextual effects” that occur when a critical mass of laptop users are present in a coffee house. I’m curious, though, since nearly all coffeehouses these days offer WiFi, and so nearly all have some proportion of the customers there are using laptops, whether you have a sense of where the dividing line lies, beyond which the coffeehouse starts to have a “psychologically evacuated contextual effect”.

By: mo

mo — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 00:18:47 +0000

The fantastically wonderful Coffee Song!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k0k97U6LlYk

By: FARfetched

FARfetched — Sun, 09 Aug 2009 18:59:07 +0000

Funny, the coffee shop I frequent often has three people at a table, sharing a laptop & conversation. It’s a tool like any other, you can use it for socialization or isolation.

A lot of the Bigbucks shops charge for use of their wifi, which may increase the sense of isolation — you’re on the clock, so you’re going to take care of your laptop needs before moving on to anything else.

By: DavidB

DavidB — Sat, 08 Aug 2009 23:18:19 +0000

They should use special non-standard power plugs and rent adapters. They can require people spend a minimum amount per time period. There are plenty of ways these shops can monetize, who are they (or we) to DICTATE that we MUST interact with other persons if we don’t want to? I enjoy a good conversation over a good cup of coffee as much as most, but sometimes I’m not in the mood to chit chat.

By: Laura Pritchard

Laura Pritchard — Sat, 08 Aug 2009 22:56:12 +0000

Excellent, excellent post. I couldn’t agree more. Not only are people on their laptops, but they’re often using headsets. Or, all you hear out of them is the sound their laptop makes when sending or receiving email.

Those New York coffee shops are where I’d like to be. The last vestige of American conversation…