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.
Starbucks 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.
They literally removed all tables and chairs inside my local starbucks. There's a standing bench only. It's a huge Starbucks, lots of empty floor space right now. Nowhere to sit. They seem to want you to order and gtfo.
If they want people to come in and sit down why have they removed all tables and chairs?
The following isn't my local Starbucks at all but the link has pictures of what many Starbucks look like inside right now. I don't live in a high crime or high homelessness area at all (not near any big city) and they removed all seating from multiple local Starbucks in the past few months (they are clearly leaning into doing this more not away from it).
> Kyle Trainer, a barista at the location, said he believed Starbucks eliminated seating due to homeless individuals and people with mental illnesses around the neighborhood. He added that Starbucks does not adequately train team members to manage stressful situations and that the chain would rather “remove the seating, close the bathroom and not deal with it.”
Being in SF versus other cities and suburbs very likely has something to do with it, I'm not sure where you live but they're apparently bring back more furniture as cited in a link in my other comments. But who knows, maybe they're prioritizing bringing back furniture based on many factors.
Your 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.
Updated 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.
When 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.
Restaurants are about increasing transaction volume above all else, especially at smaller dollar amounts. Second order might include things like average cost of servicing each transaction.
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.