Friday, May 27, 2005
Are We Too Connected?
Posted by Jon Westfall in "THOUGHT" @ 03:44 PM
"It’s too early to say whether it’s a trend, but Victrola Coffee & Art in Seattle shuts down its free Wi-Fi on Saturday and Sunday: I spoke to co-owner and co-founder Jen Strongin today after a colleague tipped me to the fact that this lovely, single-shop coffee establishment had decided to experiment with taking back its culture by turning off the Wi-Fi juice on weekends."
While most of us see nothing but benefit to Wi-Fi Hotspots (After all, we get connected, the owner gets more traffic in their establishment), or to being more connected in general, this article brings up some interesting issues.
For me, I'm the exception where I live. When at mostly suburban Borders or Barnes & Nobles, I'm the lone person with a PPC or Laptop (Much to my fiance's dismay). This isn't the case in bustling "hip" areas though, and the sea of laptops described in the article can be a common sight. So which atmosphere is better? Well, in terms of connectivity, a Seattle coffee shop with free Wifi certainly beats out my Borders & GPRS internet (I guess I could pay for T-Mobile Hotspot, but who wants to pay when they already have a data plan?), but am I losing something by interacting with my computer instead of other people? And while I always purchase a drink when sitting there typing on my gadgets, is it possible that free Wi-Fi is actually hurting owners more than helping as in this article?
So are we too connected to the internet now, not enough, or just right?
While most of us see nothing but benefit to Wi-Fi Hotspots (After all, we get connected, the owner gets more traffic in their establishment), or to being more connected in general, this article brings up some interesting issues.
For me, I'm the exception where I live. When at mostly suburban Borders or Barnes & Nobles, I'm the lone person with a PPC or Laptop (Much to my fiance's dismay). This isn't the case in bustling "hip" areas though, and the sea of laptops described in the article can be a common sight. So which atmosphere is better? Well, in terms of connectivity, a Seattle coffee shop with free Wifi certainly beats out my Borders & GPRS internet (I guess I could pay for T-Mobile Hotspot, but who wants to pay when they already have a data plan?), but am I losing something by interacting with my computer instead of other people? And while I always purchase a drink when sitting there typing on my gadgets, is it possible that free Wi-Fi is actually hurting owners more than helping as in this article?
So are we too connected to the internet now, not enough, or just right?
