If I was a businessman, I would open a “Live Chat Café.” This would feel like stepping back in time, to the age before smartphones. It would be a coffeehouse for “old people,” a place for people who actually want to have a “live chat,” a conversation in person, face to face, without having to check their phones every 20 seconds. Oh, young people could go there, too, but I would somehow have a place to store the patrons’ phones while they are there. Some people who are dating, or engaged, or newly married might go there. This would be a place where the people at the table would give their full attention to the other people in the conversation, and not be distracted by their phones.
Probably 99% of what screams for your attention on your phone doesn’t require immediate attention. You see, I would open this coffee shop for those who want to be “all in” on the conversation they are going to have. I get tired of seeing people seated around the table who are off on another planet, playing a game, or scrolling on Facebook. You know, the “important” stuff.
This could be successful for a while, at least until all the “baby boomers” died out. Then it would become just a thing of the past, too, like meaningful conversation has.
I know I’m old, and some of us old-timers don’t fit well in the 21st century, but we won’t be here for very much longer. Your older parents and grandparents would love my coffeehouse, and I am sure that they would love it even more if their children and grandchildren would take them there to just talk, and listen, and be engaged in the conversation.
You know, like it was before smartphones.