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AIBU?

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Original poster

To ban phones and other technology from my coffee shop?

166 replies

WingsOnMyBoots · 01/02/2018 17:35

I actually don't HAVE a coffee shop or any other business but I just wondered - hypothetically speaking, if it was a great place, with fabulous coffee and cakes etc. would you still go if NO technology at all was allowed to be used in there?

OP posts:
AuntLydia · 01/02/2018 18:13

To what purpose? I can't say other people's use of technology bothers me as long as its not loud and intrusive.

Valerrie · 01/02/2018 18:13

Nope. First of all I have PTSD and severe anxiety and using apps on my phone help ground me.

Secondly, I'm a grown adult woman and I choose what I do with my own time, thanks.

SleepingStandingUp · 01/02/2018 18:14

Nope.
My phone is my watch and my camera as well as my internet, text and phone.

Timeandtune · 01/02/2018 18:17

A coffee shop near me has just celebrated its 30 th birthday. There is no wifi and no signal either. They have only recently been able to accept card payments.
If I go for a coffee I will read a magazine or newspaper or chat to the staff or my fellow customers. There are books for children too.
I am never there for longer than 20/30 minutes so being uncontactable is not an issue.

DriggleDraggle · 01/02/2018 18:19

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

SleepingStandingUp · 01/02/2018 18:23

Thing is if I want tech free I can take my book to Starbucks or the little local cafe down the road. I don't need to be told. As for other people tapping eyc, its no more of a disturbance than people talking to each other surely?

Xmasbaby11 · 01/02/2018 18:23

It wouldn't appeal to me. I often spend 1 or 2 hours in a coffee shop and couldn't deal with being uncontactable. Plus if i go on my own I'd be catching up on texts, mn etc.

I've never been to a coffee shop where the use of technology has annoyed me, so i can't see the appeal of banning it!

BeyondThePage · 01/02/2018 18:23

Yes, if service was prompt and wait-staff were chatty.

(I don't have a smart phone)

FrancisCrawford · 01/02/2018 18:23

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

4yoniD · 01/02/2018 18:25

No. I don't care about WiFi but if I want to check email / message someone back / bid on eBay I'm going to.

DakotaWest · 01/02/2018 18:32

I can't think of anything worst than chatting with random strangers. I have to make small talk at work, at the school gate, at my kids sport venues... more than enough for a lifetime

Aridane · 01/02/2018 18:37

No - why do you ask?

Anymajordude · 01/02/2018 18:41

I'd think the owners of the coffee shop were sanctimonious twats and I wouldn't go in. A bit like a pub near my brother's house where the landlord used to nail customer's phones to the top of the bar.

RicottaPancakes · 01/02/2018 18:42

Yes if you provided lovely interesting magazines :-)

cloudyweewee · 01/02/2018 18:42

Yes I'd go. Even better if you banned background music and kids as well Grin

Topseyt · 01/02/2018 18:42

Apart from my DDs or DH if I am with them, I don't want to chat to others in a coffee shop. Certainly not to random strangers. I never have and I couldn't think of anything worse.

I want my phone or a book, and I don't want to be dictated to about which it should be. I am not a schoolchild.

60sname · 01/02/2018 18:44

Grin no chance

cupcakemania · 01/02/2018 18:45

You must be joking. I sit in coffee shops when waiting for my kid to finish her activities. I am on my own and probably sat down with a hot coffee for the first time in a good few days.

Buglife · 01/02/2018 18:46

If I want to sit and read a magazine or book or talk to a friend I will choose to do so though. If I want to sit alone and check my phone/do some online admin/work etc I’ll do that as well. I wouldn’t choose to go somewhere that dictated I couldn’t do either as it suited me.

RainbowGlitterFairy · 01/02/2018 18:48

There is a pub near me with a no tech rule, their customers are mostly older men but they are doing ok for themselves

flumpybear · 01/02/2018 18:50

Nope, people go alone to get on with work etc so personally I'd avoid

youngnomore · 01/02/2018 18:57

No!
But What if you have one day that’s WiFi free.
Call it WiFi free Wednesday. Brew.

insancerre · 01/02/2018 18:59

I don't have a coffee shop but I do get to tell people they can't use their mobile phones in the nursery where I work
" I'm so sorry but you can't use that in here"
Halo

BurningTheToast · 01/02/2018 19:02

I often go to cafes on my own to write. My favourite two don't have wi-fi or phone reception and I really like that because I can't procrastinate and I actually get some work done - two lattes (and the occasional pain au raisin) can equal 1500 words. So, personally, while I'd be delighted to find somewhere that had no reception, I wouldn't want to think that my laptop wasn't welcome.

Glumglowworm · 01/02/2018 19:07

Nope

I usually go with a friend so won’t check my phone except if she goes to order or to the loo, but sometimes I’ll want to show her something on my phone.

Or if I’m alone I like to enjoy a cake and a drink while browsing my phone.

I wouldn’t mind a “no phone calls” rule, but really a phone call is no noisier than a conversation with someone physically there. The obnoxious dicks who bellow into the phone will be equally as loud talking to someone face to face.