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A Coffeeshop's Weekends Without Wi-Fi
Glenn Fleishman writes "Victrola Cafe and Art in Seattle is a popular coffeeshop that offers free Wi-Fi--except on the weekends. In an experiment, the cafe started shutting down its Wi-Fi network on Saturdays and Sundays after watching their culture erode: the shop became full (and was turning away customers) with six-to-eight hour Wi-Fi squatters, many of whom didn't even purchase anything. Their second Sunday without Wi-Fi was one of their best revenue days in some time. I don't propose a Wi-Fi (or free Wi-Fi) backlash, but it's interesting how with some time under their belt, the clash of inward facing technology and outward facing culture hit these particular entrepreneurs' limit."
... find that they have less space in their lives for other people, less space for God (if religious), less space even for themselves. All they have is stuff - and emptiness.
This isn't really OT. It's the background for this issue. Do the owners want the coffeeshop to be a place for people to be isolated with their stuff? Kudos to them for making it a place where people are gently pushed to break out of their self-imposed solitary confinement.
A coffeeshop is so much more than a place that sells coffee...