Wednesday, January 24, 2007
Free WiFi spawns cafe backlash
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20060710-7226.html
But the issue is not just an economic one; it has a cultural side as well. Cafe owners and traditional patrons are concerned that the shops are becoming offices. Confronted by a sea of laptops and hard-working coffee sippers, other guests may feel less able to talk, laugh, and be sociable. The forest of raised laptop screens might also keep patrons from talking with one another, and that social element has long been a part of cafe culture. It was this problem that led one Seattle coffee shop to start shutting off the WiFi on weekends last year. Not only did revenue go up, but the atmosphere in the cafe changed as well.
Coffee shops raise, in miniature, the essential political question: what sort of society do we want to create? Not surprisingly, there's a difference of opinion. Customers who use cafes to meet others and to socialize with friends are disappointed by the many laptops and by the shortage of tables. Those working on laptops find themselves wishing that the retired friends at the next table could talk about their golf game in lower tones. And each owner has a vision of her own.
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20060710-7226.html
But the issue is not just an economic one; it has a cultural side as well. Cafe owners and traditional patrons are concerned that the shops are becoming offices. Confronted by a sea of laptops and hard-working coffee sippers, other guests may feel less able to talk, laugh, and be sociable. The forest of raised laptop screens might also keep patrons from talking with one another, and that social element has long been a part of cafe culture. It was this problem that led one Seattle coffee shop to start shutting off the WiFi on weekends last year. Not only did revenue go up, but the atmosphere in the cafe changed as well.
Coffee shops raise, in miniature, the essential political question: what sort of society do we want to create? Not surprisingly, there's a difference of opinion. Customers who use cafes to meet others and to socialize with friends are disappointed by the many laptops and by the shortage of tables. Those working on laptops find themselves wishing that the retired friends at the next table could talk about their golf game in lower tones. And each owner has a vision of her own.
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