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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:
Idontdowindows · 01/02/2018 21:03

No chance.

The mobile phone was a lifeline when my dad was still at home with his dementia. Hearing my mum talk about him on the phone would send him into uncontrollable rages. We communicated through skype and whatsapp.

I have a very ill family member, who can't speak anymore. We chat all day through on whatsapp.

I would never enter a shop that told me I couldn't be in touch with the people I wanted to be in touch with, when I wanted to be in touch with them.

Needmorehands · 01/02/2018 21:33

In my coffee shop the coffee is delicious, the cakes are homemade and the wifi is free. I don't even harvest your e-mails before letting you use it (maybe I'm a) soft, and b) crap at business) But the shop is mostly busy and the customers happy.
Maybe it helps that reception isn't great so I dive outside to take calls, and don't seem to have a particular problem with shouty phone calls, or rude customers on their phones when you're trying to serve them
:)

llangennith · 01/02/2018 21:45

Yes yes yes! Even though I love my various Apple devices.

ICanStandtheHeat · 01/02/2018 21:49

No! Bloody hell I agree it's crap but you would loose so much business

babybythesea · 01/02/2018 21:52

I'd use it, happily. Assuming I could still get phone calls - not to chat loudly to people but, for example, I went to one yesterday to wait for my car to be fixed and they phoned me to go back and collect it.)
But then I don't have a smart phone. I can make no receive texts and calls so the kind of coffee shop you are describing is my experience in every single coffee shop I go into!
Would it include kindles? I use mine a lot although it's a basic one and I can only read on it. I'd be annoyed if told I couldn't use my kindle, especially if I'd got to a good bit in the book!

HoppyHannah · 01/02/2018 22:22

Bottom line for me is silent activity with wifi. That is no problem whatsoever.

It is the shouty people on their phones that drive me nuts. But I don't know how that can be curtailed apart from a notice saying take your calls outside please.

The smokers of 2018 maybe!

Original poster
WingsOnMyBoots · 01/02/2018 22:23

SPEAKOUT - "Why do you ask such a strange question OP?"

I suppose because I'm a bit of a neo-luddite. I sometimes just long for the 'old days'. I would love to go to a place where I didn't have to see and hear mobile phones or any other tech equipment and I just wondered if any one else felt the same.

The other day I was at a coffee shop and two ladies were on the table next to me - they looked like mother and daughter - one was in her 30's the other was in her 50's. The younger one spent the whole time on her phone while the older one just sort of sat and looked around. I heard just one sentence spoken by the younger one when she said 'Nice coffee, isn't it?' and went back to her phone. I was half tempted to say to the older woman 'come and see with me and chat if you want to!' I felt awful for her. I really would not put up with this ignorance.

Half an hour later I saw these same two ladies walking around the shops and the younger one was trailing 10ft behind the older one, still with her phone. I see this kind of scenario a lot and it makes me feel sad.

OP posts:
Els1e · 01/02/2018 23:25

Yes I would. I know i’m in the minority here but no issue of not being in 100% communication for 30 mins or so. In fact, realeasing. Good money is paid for tech free retreats. If you want a balanced view, this probably not the best forum to use.

Evenbetter · 01/02/2018 23:41

People have always wanted to escape from others, before phones it was newspapers and magazines. Plenty of people kill time in coffee shops while waiting on someone coming out of surgery, to get away from awful life events, to get time away from their kids. Phones connect you with the world, any information you can imagine is right there, closed FB groups, friendship circles, etc. if I’m looking at my phone when in public it’ll be because I’m trying to fend off a panic attack. And no, I will not be chatting inanely to strangers.

Sitranced · 01/02/2018 23:50

Looks like you'll be in your coffee shop on your own OP Grin

NewYearNiki · 01/02/2018 23:52

No.

Whats the difference between a book and a kindle now anyway?

Or some people like to sit down and message friends.

As long as no one is disturbing anyone else why not.

GottadoitGottadoit · 01/02/2018 23:53

No.

Patronising.

windchimesabotage · 01/02/2018 23:59

No. I go to coffee shops on my own to read and people on laptops are usually being quiet which suits me!! Plus sometimes you need to charge your phone if youve been out all day. I dont think youd get that many customers these days if you banned tech. I mean coffee shops survive on tech really. Thats the customer base. People on laptops and sometimes groups of friends whove been shopping. Its not like going out for dinner where your customer base would probs not be that effected by banning tech.

BadLad · 02/02/2018 00:00

I wouldn't go to this coffee shop. If I want to get away from my devices, I'm capable of doing something extreme, such as not using them for an hour, rather than needing to find a place where using them is not allowed.

Thursdaydreaming · 02/02/2018 00:09

WingsOnMyBoots

Isn't that between them, though? And what's the phone have to do with it really. Would you have been happy to see one of them reading a newspaper and not talking?

Maybe they are the quiet types, maybe they just spent the whole day or week together, or maybe they live together and don't feel them need to constantly chat.

Its a bit weird wanting a pair of strangers to interact in a certain way just so that it's more pleasing to you visually.

gillybeanz · 02/02/2018 00:15

i'd go, especially if it was marketed to time when technology didn't involve people staring at screens and not communicating.
A 50's or 60's themed diner, or speakeasy with a jukebox.

Shmithecat · 02/02/2018 00:16

No. My coffee shop time is usually when my DS is napping. It's a hour for me to drink my mocha, eat my overpriced panini/millionaire shortbread slice in peace, without having to share, whilst reading the news/mning/sorting emails etc. Yanbu to even suggest such a thing.

Topseyt · 02/02/2018 00:21

I don't think I could get too worked up about what the two ladies at the neighbouring table were doing so long as they weren't actually disturbing me.

There's a reason why coffee shops, bars and restaurants almost always have Wi-Fi now, and why they generally aren't so patronising as to treat valuable customers like naughty children. It draws in a large part of their customer base.

Mobile phones are here to stay. Hankering after some mythical "good old days" is pointless. I would never have gone into a coffee shop to chat with random strangers anyway, and at 51 I can certainly remember the days before mobile phones and other tech stuff.

The way things are now suits me well.

NoqontroI · 02/02/2018 00:26

No. I'd go somewhere else. I reckon lots of people would. Doesn't sound like a good business option.

WhatToDoAboutThis2017 · 02/02/2018 00:30

I really would not put up with this ignorance.

It’s not ignorance. Perhaps if you’re such a “neo-Luddite” you might want to brush up on your vocabulary using a book.

AnnieAnoniMouse · 02/02/2018 00:38

No. It’s a coffee shop - their remit is drinks & food. Not policing internet usage.

Rufustherenegadereindeer1 · 02/02/2018 08:08

When ever i go to a coffee shop I usually see people chatting

Sometimes people are staring at their screens but they are usually by themselves and obviously dont want to read a book or paper (though they could obviously have those on their phones)

Like i say as long as i can get calls and texts from the children i dont much care

TenancyTroublesAgain · 02/02/2018 08:18

yabvvvu...

gillybeanz · 02/02/2018 11:58

I think it would be a usp tbh.
Those who wanted to use technology be it work or social would choose somewhere else.
Those that wanted to chat and be social could do that without the technology.
Your hypothetical coffee shop would have a different ambience to those that encourage tech.

runawaywithme07 · 02/02/2018 12:11

It wouldn't make me any more or less likely to use your coffee shop. I'd happily do without my phone when I visited, but then I'm not bothered by people who do use their phones. So it's not really a selling point for me, but not a problem either.

Now if you made your coffee shop child and baby-free I would absolutely go there.