October 04, 2009, 7:21 PM — Every coffee shop, bookstore cafe and library has people who sit there for hours working on a laptop. Why don't they just work at home, or in an office somewhere?
[ See also: What kind of digital nomad are you? ]
Starbucks should be a lousy place to work. It's noisy. There's no privacy. The coffee and snacks are expensive. Outlets can be hard to come by. The tables are small. The seats are uncomfortable.
Yet we all love to work there. Why?
Over the past few years, I've formed a theory as to why people like working in public places. In a nutshell, it partially resolves a conflict between human nature on the one hand, and human culture on the other.
Human beings are above all profoundly social animals. Being near other people (as opposed to being completely alone) is satisfying in a similar way as being near water, or being in a place with a commanding view. Real estate prices reflect all this. Cities, beachfront property and homes with spectacular views cost far more because people crave such spaces. We don't consciously understand why we like being in such circumstances, but we do. These environmental needs go way back to our primal origins, and have been associated with our survival for millions of years.
But culturally, many of us have evolved into creatures that need focused attention in order to work, think and create. Working near family members and co-workers conflicts with our culturally imposed need to focus. Not only do people we know interrupt us, but they remind us of obligations, tasks and situations that distract us from the work we need to focus on now. Public spaces like Starbucks give us the psychic satisfaction of being with people, but without the distraction of being with people we know. In other words, it's more pleasant to work in a room full of strangers than it is to work alone, or in a room full of friends, family and co-workers.
Related to this is that public spaces don't have your stuff. When we're at home, or in an office, we're surrounded by things that remind us of other activities we could be doing. At home, we're always a few steps away from a TV set, a refrigerator and a bed -- never mind stack of bills on the desk, the un-mowed lawn -- whatever. At work, most of us have an over-flowing in-box and desks cluttered by unfinished projects. By getting away from all that stuff, and inserting ourselves into an environment where nothing reminds us of other things that need doing, it's easier to do just the thing in front of us.
Anyway, that's my theory. What do you think?
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