It all started when I walked into Coft Coffee House in Chino Hills. I was waiting for some old friends, hoping to catch up and chat before their classes began in late August. I ordered my coconut matcha and sat down, but something felt wrong. I looked around me and saw that everyone was working. Students had their textbooks and highlighters out, and millennial-looking finance bros had their unreasonably complicated spreadsheets plastered on their unreasonably huge laptops. But I had no backpack. I began to silently freak out: I felt naked.
My friends soon arrived, but even as we were chatting, I remained self-conscious. Everyone at this café but me seemed to be getting work done. But why did I feel guilty about this? When you think about it, cafés are a prime, low-key spot to catch up with friends in a chill atmosphere. But cafés have devolved with our society’s “lock in” culture that has consumed our generation.
For the past few years, cafés have been a spot my mind immediately goes to when I think of the place to get work done. However, it wasn’t always like that. If we want to get historical, the Enlightenment was the era in which the concept of the café took off. It was a place for scholars to exchange ideas and have debates about whatever they liked to talk about in the 18th century.
We don’t carry around canes and top hats anymore, but up until the past few years, cafés were still a place to socialize and get involved with local events and communities. Cafés are no strangers to people trying to get work done, but I miss the sense of invitation to interact with other humans that old café culture used to give me.
At the 5Cs, it feels as if everyone is obsessed with productivity. If I don’t have five internships and a startup under my belt, I must be lazy. To furnish this end, cafés are being converted into spaces of work en masse.
Many of us have forgotten in the grand fog of life that socialization and human interaction is equally as important as hard work. The concept of downtime is disappearing, and places that weren’t meant for work are turning into places that are strictly for work, nourishing our workaholic, burnt-out brains. However, nothing could be more against the original purpose of a café.
In the aftermath of COVID’s intense shift towards the digital world, office culture took a turn. Workers were unhappy to give up their newfound work-from-wherever autonomy, and Zoom seemed to be able to replace nearly any in person conversation. As these effects took hold, many places both in and around the traditional office, like the downtowns of many American cities that hosted a majority of offices, have been gutted and depopulated. The reality of these empty offices and dilapidated downtowns has pushed people towards working at third spaces like cafés, but since this push, cafés have surrendered their essence in prioritization of the workaholic patronage that has proven to provide reliable business from open to close.
There are no longer banquet-style tables for everyone to sit at, and interior layouts have become much more individual in order to maximise focus and productivity. The spaces are packed with as many chairs and tables as possible, while outlets and extension cords litter the walls. It only takes a simple physical change to make cafés more friendly to socialization once again. The Motley’s stage, for example, is perfect for mingling, guest speakers and live performances. But beyond the need to revitalize cozy café atmospheres, our mindset needs to change when it comes to work and productivity.
The golden age of the café worldwide didn’t broadly decline after COVID-19, or even at the end of the Enlightenment. Other parts of the world, like Korea and Japan, still have an intense café culture, with options ranging from cafés for comics, pottery, video games and even cafés designated for people to study at, literally called study cafés. I don’t feel pressured to work in most Korean cafés. Much the same is true in places like France without specialized cafés. If every café in America took cues from abroad, and made some time to host small bands or community events, I think we would all feel more connected and rested.
Cafés can be very good spaces to do work, and the change of environment does help me be more productive when I do decide to go to one for homework. But I think that the value of socialization has been stripped from cafés, and that gives us one fewer place to connect with others face to face.
Social interaction boosts our ability to be more productive when we do need to lock in, and it reminds us that rest and connection is essential to growth. There is a pressure in our society to be the most accomplished person in the world. Furthermore, there is a belief that in order to make that happen, we must sacrifice something, namely social interaction, to become the next Mark Zuckerberg. But social interaction is something that is undoubtedly essential to success. Having more opportunities and spaces to interact with others at cafés helps rewire our brain to think about these environments as places that can be both productive and fun places where we can focus but also recharge in order to become even better versions of ourselves. So next time you’re in a café, be the change we ought to see in the world, push some tables together, and let yourself savor a matcha with friends.
Ansley Kang, SC ‘29 lowkey feels guilty every time she abandons her coconut matcha order for a different drink at Coft Coffee and Tea House.
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