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I can relate, not sure what to do about it besides move to a hacker house in Thailand or such. NPR's show 1A had a program on loneliness. There were a couple
by sfmz 1y ago
I can relate, not sure what to do about it besides move to a hacker house in Thailand or such.
NPR's show 1A had a program on loneliness. There were a couple of interesting things: these days university cafeterias are quiet because everybody eats alone while looking at their phone. A Gen-Zer complained they 2 jobs and no time to socialize. On top of that, our third places are being ruined with hostile architecture (parks), or uncomfortable seating (Starbucks) because they want you to just do a mobile order and get out. Seems like the Internet should at least be a good third space, its called cyberspace after all, but at least idk how to get invited to the right discords or tiny social spaces where there's community.
- nemomarx 1y agoIt's kind of chicken and egg - you get invited to more small discords if you already know and chat to people in other ones.
- satvikpendem 1y agoStarbucks actually does not want you to just do a mobile order, it's often cited as a reason for their lowered sales. This is a rather long podcast interview with Howard Schultz so search for the line "Ben: Of course. All right. While we’re in technology land, I think today 33% of Starbucks orders are done with mobile order and pay." and you'll see where that conversation about mobile ordering ruining third places exists. https://www.acquired.fm/episodes/starbucks-with-howard-schultz https://www.acquired.fm/episodes/starbucks-with-howard-schul...
- jdlshore 1y agoThat sounds fascinating. Unfortunately, your link is broken.
- satvikpendem 1y agoI updated my comment with the original source. The whole interview is worth listening to, Acquired is a fantastic lomg form business podcast.
- deleted 1y ago[deleted]
- sfmz 1y agoYour link is broken. I do know that Mr. Schultz has given lip-service to the fact that Starbucks is no longer a third place, but in the other column I present the fact that there are no longer any comfortable chairs at my nearest Starbucks and the next one by distance is Drive-Thru only.
- satvikpendem 1y agoUpdated my comment with the original source. What kinds of chairs are those? Maybe it's me but I found my Starbucks pretty bustling, people gathering, the chairs fairly comfortable for even long periods of time working on a laptop for example. Hell, we even have several single seater couches and that's been fairly standard since I can remember.
- sfmz 1y agoWelp, I should have probably told you I'm in a suburb. I'm guessing you are in a cool city. /jealous
- satvikpendem 1y agoWhen I was in a suburb we still had that sort of seating, and I recently went back and I see those couches still. Maybe they don't put them in new stores, I'm not sure, but I don't think they remove them if they're already there. These are the kinds I'm talking about and seeing [0]. Another source on couches returning [1], maybe in the suburbs too. [0] https://www.reddit.com/r/malelivingspace/comments/42gl0s/where_does_starbucks_get_its_furniture/ https://www.reddit.com/r/malelivingspace/comments/42gl0s/whe... [1] https://fortune.com/2025/07/06/starbucks-coffeehouse-of-the-future-store-redesigns-new-york-california/ https://fortune.com/2025/07/06/starbucks-coffeehouse-of-the-...
- fud101 1y agoAre parks hostile?