Is free Wi-Fi killing Toronto’s indie cafés?
When not referring to Black Hoof co-owner Grant van Gameren as “Greg,” the Globe and Mail has been sticking it to “freelance hipsters.” On Friday, columnist Leah McLaren lamented the loss of café culture due to “MacBook-toting jerks” who take up tables and siphon away the free Internet at coffee shops. The phenomenon has been unfolding for years, but Wi-Fi has only recently been considered a make-or-break element of a coffee shop, much to the dismay of café owners who see their hangout turn into a study hall. “As more people plugged in, the energy of the café began to sink,” says Melanie Janisse of Zoots. “People would turn up, buy a $2 tea, hunker down and sit there for five or six hours not buying anything or talking to anyone. It really started to bug me.” That said, what are the odds this is being read on a laptop in Dark Horse on Spadina right now?
• Where did café culture go? [Globe and Mail]
![](http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=https://torontolife.com/food/is-free-wi-fi-killing-torontos-indie-cafes/&title=Is free Wi-Fi killing Toronto’s indie cafés?&picture=https://cdn.torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/CafeLaptop.jpg&description=[caption id="attachment_17271" align="alignleft" width="200" caption="Laptop, tea and cake at a café (not pictured: jerk) (Photo by Nicki Dugan)"][/caption]
When not referring to Black Hoof co-owner Grant van Gameren as “Greg,” the Globe and Mail has been sticking it to “freelance hipsters.” On Friday, columnist Leah McLaren lamented the loss of café culture due to “MacBook-toting jerks” who take up tables and siphon away the free Internet at coffee shops. The phenomenon has been unfolding for years, but Wi-Fi has only recently been considered a make-or-break element of a coffee shop, much to the dismay of café owners who see their hangout turn into a study hall. “As more people plugged in, the energy of the café began to sink,” says Melanie Janisse of Zoots. “People would turn up, buy a $2 tea, hunker down and sit there for five or six hours not buying anything or talking to anyone. It really started to bug me.” That said, what are the odds this is being read on a laptop in Dark Horse on Spadina right now?
• Where did café culture go? [Globe and Mail]){kind=link}
There’s a Dark Horse on Spadina?! Now that’s exciting.
I’m not really sure that free wi-fi is the killer of indie cafes at all, business has to adapt and offer something else. Obviously, people are still coming into the cafes so offer something different and make them stay.
In the future, we will be going to cafes to unplug and get off the grid! As access to the internet becomes more and more ubiquitous, we will seek safe zones where we can get back to human socialization and interaction. This idea has always stuck with me after listening to Adam Greenfield, back in 2006.
Adam is a critical futurist and author of Everyware: The dawning age of ubiquitous computing. He has some pretty interesting ideas and theories of what to expect in the future, so I think people shouldn’t try to lament the things that was but prepare and adapt to what is coming.
How about not offering wifi at your coffee shop?
Yes save us from the Macbook-toting jerks. Or the soon to be iPad toting jerks. Get off the grid, learn to socialize with people, learn to use your brakes when your Toyota accelerated unexpectedly.
OR why not just create online culture specific to your shop whereby patrons can play games with each other (chess, checkers, etc) and/or jump on a chatroom of some sort. It’s not like people in Toronto approach one another, anyway…
Hipsters? Bah … it’s actually students and yuppies clogging the cafes with their Macbooks.
Hey does anyone know where I could go to a cyber/internet cafe that has Apple computers to rent by the hour? I have some CF Cards that I want to transfer to my HD. Or could I do this with a PC without any terrible side effects?
I am one of those MacBook toting jerks. I have also been working in Toronto’s entertainment & nightlife industry for 6+ years. I can safely say that Toronto hasn’t always been known as that great of a social society, anyways.
People still need a place to study, and sometimes their homes are not sufficient. I am not sure if you’ve seen most student homes, but they are not that inviting and usually lack proper study area (like a desk and chair) as most students have to use their beds. Yet schools are forgoing more of the books for online reads. So we have replaced most books with laptops, iPads, cellphones, etc. This is just evolution, get used to it.
I will agree some people need to buy more, which is why maybe there should be a minimum purchase amount before acquiring the wifi login info which only lasts say a couple hours. This promotes continued purchasing over long periods of time. I am about to pack up my MacBook and head somewhere for dinner as I still have a lot of work to do and need to eat. It is still a moving economy, and people will be social in other ways. No sense in fighting it, just roll with it and use it to your advantage.
I own a lovely little coffee house and have been asked many times about WiFi. I have considered it but when I see the people in my shop striking up conversations and seeing those conversations become friendships I am glad I have stuck to my plan not to have internet. It is imperative to never lose the art of conversation and as much as I love technology…. No WiFi in my shop!
Doesn’t matter to me whether you have wifi or not. Thanks to my iPhone, I can tether my laptop and get my internet anyway.
I buy my drinks at a regular pace and it’s all good. When I go, it’s never that crowded that someone can’t find a seat. I enjoy the background hum of conversation and being out of my home. They get a customer and tips. Everyone is happy.