Someone once said that certain people in the social sciences base their research on phenomenon that they experience in their everyday lives, in order to better explain and predict these personal instances and events. This certainly applies my research interest in television viewing as a form of background "noise" in the home, because I am more likely to turn on the television when I am at home than turn on music or the radio. Perhaps one of my motivations for studying this aspect of television audiences is that I seek further explanations for my own behavior at home with the television as a mechanism for background audio and images within the domestic sphere as I go about my day. 

Today I went to a coffee shop in hopes of a decent up of joe and some quality reading time. I ordered my coffee and sat down to my readings..but I couldn't. I couldn't concentrate at all. You may be hypothesizing that someone was talking loudly on their cell phone or terrible emo/rock/stereotypical coffee shop music was blasting all over the shop. Not at all- it was because the television was on. In this particular coffee shop, there is a television near the front entrance; I was sitting towards the back of the shop and the volume was at a moderate level, so I could just barely distinguish a few words now and then. I stayed for an hour to sip my coffee, but I my mind could not focus on reading whatsoever. Every time I tried to read the words on the page, the sound of the television broke through.

I began to think about why this bothered me so much- why was the presence of a television in this coffee shop so jarring to me? Why couldn't I leisurely read with the television at a low volume here, when I do this very activity at home so often? Suddenly, it hit me: having a television in a setting such as a coffee shop is "off code" for me (to quote the documentary "The Persuaders"). I expect music in a coffee shop as part of the atmosphere, not television, and television as background noise in a restaurant or, in this case, coffee shop, made my experience "off code" and thus I could not concentrate. If I had been at home, I would have been fine to read and have a television on as background "noise." Television is a part of my domestic experience, but I do not expect this in a public environment such as a coffee shop. My private sphere activity was in a public place, and I did not like it one bit. 

And yes, I am typing this as I have the television turned on in the background. 

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Beth S Goldberg - Lets further problematize the IP:128.6.30.198 | 2008-04-15 16:24:57 What you seem to be saying here is there is a whole continuum of coffee shops, bother in terms of drink quality, facility, tone/tenor and atmosphere/amenities. A short list: 1. Starbucks - no TV, plentiful seating, variety of drinks, high volume sales, corporate music ubiquity. 2. Independant "hip" cafe, some seating, artsy atmosphere, fringe type music, drinks may vary in quality. 3. Chain coffee shop 4. Jazz style upscale coffee shop 5. Coffee fanatic shop. Ok I'm done.

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