Sunday, November 14, 2010

Where do you spend your time

Where people choose to spend their time says quite a bit about them. More and more people are choosing to spend their time online rather than in proximity of other people. And even when they do go out for coffee, say, they spend their time with their cell phones or laptops online with people in entirely different places.

My experiences with Starbucks has been interesting. I have had the opportunity to walk by a Starbucks in a Barnes and Noble store on different occasions at about the same time. The demographic has been interesting.

The first time, EVERYONE was on their laptop. Most of the tables had one or two people at them. But, even the tables with two people had both people on their laptop and didn't seem to be interacting. It was like your kids texting each other while sitting on the same couch or in the car. People were probably communicating, just not with those in their proximity.

Next time was much more social. It seemed that this time, there were larger groups. Some seemed to be families while others appeared to be groups who were doing something together. Perhaps the fact that they were out for other things made the social interaction more prevalent. The interaction was more on a personal level and some of it appeared to be quite intense.

The next time, there were a couple of large groups. You know, the type who pull chairs and tables together in order to be with each other. This was a very lively atmosphere with lots of interactions, some of it quite boisterous. These were groups of younger people, apparently out to have a good time. My suspicion was that this was just one point on their time together.

Social situations might dictate interaction in social spaces. More thought is needed.

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