Everyone has a threshold beyond which they'll exercise restraint in talking based on the number of people who might overhear the conversation. It's like fear of

Everyone has a threshold beyond which they'll exercise restraint in talking based on the number of people who might overhear the conversation. It's like fear of public speaking. Today's open floor layouts and their desk densities exceed some people's comfort levels, so they shut up and take their conversations to the chat room. In general, the density and lack of privacy is too high for programmers but not high enough yet for marketing, for example.