At a coffee shop yesterday, while having “breakfast” with my wife, a man sat at one of the tables near us and proceeded to watch videos on his phone at full volume. You could tell he was either on TikTok or Facebook, and he had absolutely no headphones of any kind; because apparently, the rest of the café had been waiting all morning to hear whatever social media decided to feed him.
The man was probably in his 60s or thereabouts, yet somehow appeared to have missed the part of life where people learn basic public decorum. Perhaps he skipped his GMRC classes as a child. Perhaps he ate the textbook. Whatever happened, the results were on full display in what was supposed to be a quiet café.
We were already somewhat close to finishing our meal, so I decided not to gently remind this rotten soul that other people exist. There was also the small but not entirely irrational fear that a man audacious enough to behave like that in public might also be capable of murder. I could have ended up being unalived right there, all because I dared to defend the sacred silence of overpriced coffee.
There really should be laws against watching videos on mobile devices in public with the volume turned up as if you’re alone in your living room. But while we’re at it, there should probably also be laws against sheer stupidity, brazen apathy, and the kind of confidence that makes people think an entire café needs to participate in their screen time.