Tonight, I went to a coffee shop to get away from my apartment. I wanted to work on some things, but I really just wanted to try out a different environment.
I haven’t been to one in awhile, but I was pleasantly surprised.
This particular one was rather active. There were many people.
What’s nice about the coffee shop experience is that you can sit down and have a conversation with someone. Sure, the company would probably prefer that you buy something at some point. But surprisingly, there seemed to be no pressure to do so.
I began thinking about what made this experience so refreshing, so I started writing.
A coffee shop’s defining assets are its armchairs, wooden chairs and tables, its experience, and most importantly, its customers – the people.
It was refreshing to see so many people talking. And it wasn’t just brief acknowledgments. People were actually facing each other! And I saw some reach the edge of their seats as their conversation became more engaging with time.
As I was sitting in my chair observing this, I began thinking about computers. I spend a lot of time on both my computer and mobile device.
I think computers are pretty cool. And I think it’s fair to say that they’ll get better over time.
But in my opinion, face-to-face (or real-life) contact provides a unique experience. It provides value that computers can’t.
Computers cannot efficiently communicate what I saw at one point during the night. It was two women who were talking to my right. They seemed like friends. One of them was pregnant. The other seemed like she just wanted to support her friend’s journey through pregnancy.
They talked for the entire two hours I was there. They smiled and laughed. They listened to each other.
I saw this in person. I witnessed it. I experienced it.
But then again, maybe you’re experiencing something of personal value as you read this (which, I should add, is made possible by the use of computers).
Hm, perhaps both provide value in different ways.
All I know is that when I got home, I thought to myself: “Wow, that was fun. I should work on things outside of my apartment more often!”