I chose to observe communication in my favorite coffee shop, Stauf’s. I usually go here to intensely focus on homework for several hours and keep my head down, but this time, I actually got to pay attention to what was happening around me. I realized this particular coffee shop (and I would guess many others) is diverse in the realm of communication. People came in alone and worked on their laptops, read books, or wrote in journals. Others came in with a friend and talked for hours, while others came with friends and put headphones in to work on homework. However, verbal communication was most evident to me during my time observing. Every single person I watched come in participated in verbal communication at least once during their time there, whether that be just ordering their coffee before getting to work or talking with friends the whole time. As for nonverbal communication, I did notice that nearly everyone kept a softer volume, especially when it was less crowded. I feel like this had to do less with the actual topic of their conversation/privacy and more to do with the fact that there were so many people clearly engaged in work. I like to think that people did this out of respect for those around them. Lastly, the use of technology was widespread in Stauf’s. While I was there, most people were alone or with one other person and nearly all of these people were engaged in some sort of technology. I would say at least 75% of the occupants were on their phone or laptop at a given time. I did notice that when technology was used in a group of 2 or more people, the verbal communication was lacking. However, most of the technology use seemed to be reasonable, such as for work or school, and not just for leisure purposes, so lack of verbal communication would be fitting in these circumstances.
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