I have no problem with laptop cafes, I bring mine to cafes to work all the time. I really enjoy it. But I also see merit in cafes that establish a no cell, no laptop rule (sometimes just for certain hours of the day). That would be a draw for me (honestly, the no cell phone policy tends to be more of a draw than a no laptop policy).
To me, this is very much a one size doesn't fit all situation. It makes no sense to get into a huff when people are on their laptops in a cafe that permits this. That said, remarkably, some people get strangely enraged when one cafe or bar out of twenty (or hundred) establishes a no cell phone policy. Like, they aren't satisfied that they can have their way in 95% of coffee shops and bars, it has to be this specific one, right now (these folks, interestingly, often think the matter can be cleared up by simply reminding everyone which country we live in).
My family left the east coast when I was 9, so I don't really have any experience of commuter trains, but I think of this as the moral equivalent of people who won't shut up on the Quiet Car.[0]
Public and semi-public space is important to social interactions, but the extroverts tend to get all the say in how that space is designed. Because they're the ones that speak up, well, by definition.
I've dreamed many times about starting a cafe with a no-cell no-laptop policy, but just assumed I was a cranky bastard and the idea was insane. Your post suggests that maybe it's a thing, though - would you mind saying where you've found such cafes?
Wish I could, this is just something I read or hear about on the news, radio, and so forth every now and then, usually because someone got angry when they couldn't use their cell and was asked to leave and got angry about it and it becomes a "local interest kind of news story.
Bourbon and branch in SF bans cell phones, but that's a bar, not a cafe. I read about another one (a cafe) that bans cell phones and laptops for a certain section of the day, but I'd have to google around for it.
there are plenty of them here in NY. or, they'll ban before/after the busy period. you can't just buy a $3 cup and sit all day at a table that's costing the operator $10/day to lease. It's also really obnoxious, it makes a place seem boring when people are sitting around anti-socially with their laptops pretending to be studying.
It's a pretty unique American thing -- you can't just sit quietly, you have to always seem busy -- kind of like eating lunch alone.
To me, this is very much a one size doesn't fit all situation. It makes no sense to get into a huff when people are on their laptops in a cafe that permits this. That said, remarkably, some people get strangely enraged when one cafe or bar out of twenty (or hundred) establishes a no cell phone policy. Like, they aren't satisfied that they can have their way in 95% of coffee shops and bars, it has to be this specific one, right now (these folks, interestingly, often think the matter can be cleared up by simply reminding everyone which country we live in).