"The best way Starbucks can preserve the third place in the digital age is to improve ordering on the mobile app for both customers and workers, she said."
- good luck if that's what she said 🤷♂️
I found this article fascinating. Mainstream discussion of third places and why Starbucks is so mid.
What do y'all think?
https://www.cnn.com/2024/07/19/business/starbucks-mobile-orders-third-place/index.html
Discussion
That quote betrays a fundamental misunderstanding of "third place."
According to Ray Oldenburg (see greatgoodplace.org):
> A third place is a hangout where you can relax and be yourself with no responsibilities. It’s separate from home or work and convenient enough to visit regularly. It’s free or inexpensive, and conversation is the main activity. Everyone is welcome, but it’s also a familiar spot where, as the song goes, "everyone knows your name."
The conflation of third places with some digitally-mediated state of mind is precisely why there is such an epidemic of loneliness in the developed world today.