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How Restaurants Got So Loud

theatlantic.com

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Re: How Restaurants Got So Loud

#41

Post by ekianjo »

rubinelli wrote: post #28
keiferski wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Libraries are not playgrounds. This idea that the primary functional purpose of an important space should be some kind of afterthought is rather depressing, but I guess is follows from the entertainment-centric culture we live in. The purpose of a library is to read, not to entertain your kids.

Kids that grow up associating libraries with fun are much more likely to want to visit them after they learn to read. Libraries are closing down because they don't have any readers.

is this a joke? the last thing most young adults like is to be surrounded by screaming children. The louder you make libraries the less people will ever want to go there.

Re: How Restaurants Got So Loud

#42

Post by adrianN »

cimmanom wrote: post #25
keiferski wrote: post #7

I'd love to read an analysis of how the world in general has gotten so loud. Even a few hundred years ago, the centers of massive cities like Paris, Rome, or Istanbul must have been significantly quieter, being that cars, horns, trains, speakers, boomboxes, industrial plants, airplanes and everything else that creates noise pollution didn't exist.

I don’t know. Carriages and wagons with wooden or iron-rimmed wheels rolling over cobblestones don’t seem to me like they’d be quiet.

There are probably a lot more cars on the road than there ever were carriages. I'd also suspect that copious amounts of horse manure on top of the cobble stones have a dampening effect.

Re: How Restaurants Got So Loud

#43

Post by sgift »

keiferski wrote: post #26
cimmanom wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don’t know. Carriages and wagons with wooden or iron-rimmed wheels rolling over cobblestones don’t seem to me like they’d be quiet.

I said "significantly quieter", not "quiet." Surely a carriage makes less noise than an eighteen-wheeler.

I wouldn't bet on it. The sound of horseshoes on anything hard is really loud. Also: Which horrible place has eighteen-wheelers driving in living areas? Carriages were everywhere.

Re: How Restaurants Got So Loud

#44

Post by mattmanser »

dingaling wrote: post #31
fredley wrote: post #5

One thing that's becoming near-impossible is finding places to drink (as in pubs or bars) without piped music. This contributes significantly to noise. It's done of course so that we shout ourselves hoarse trying to have a conversation, so we buy more drinks to lubricate our throat, but even formerly quiet pubs near me have started doing it.

In the UK my partner and I have started going to Wetherspoons pubs. They're reviled in middle-class circles as a cheap, chavvy chain that buys-out traditional pubs but they're clean, friendly and QUIET.

Ugh, they're usually not clean or friendly, the staff are also usually incompetent and slow. I have been in them a lot over the years for various reasons and my best description of weatherspoons would be a bit shit.

That they don't buy a music license is a cost saving measure.

They're ok when they first open, but after a year or two get a bit of a run down feeling.

I also walk past one of my local ones occasionally at 9:30 in the morning, there's always a few old men already drinking pints of lager in there, it's sad.

Re: How Restaurants Got So Loud

#45

Post by jorvi »

keiferski wrote: post #17
willvarfar wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm a big fan of the making-libraries-loud (loud as in happy) movement, but I'm usually bringing my kids to browse the shelves and pick books to bring home, not to actually spend time there reading them. In my experience kids find quiet libraries intimidating. (Which is at odds with my own preferences, I should add, but I prioritize the kids.) What the libraries need is a quiet reading room, rather like the trains ha…

Libraries are not playgrounds. This idea that the primary functional purpose of an important space should be some kind of afterthought is rather depressing, but I guess is follows from the entertainment-centric culture we live in. The purpose of a library is to read, not to entertain your kids.

I believe the trend of changing libraries from ‘places to read’ to ‘mutli-purpose community hubs’ is a great one. I’m not sure, but I believe its happening all over Scandinavia.. and for what it’s worth I hope its also going to start happen in The Netherlands.

Right now libraries are dying. In my city, 80% of public library use is high school kids or university kids (overflow from the busy university library) studying there during peak exam times, outside of that its extremely underutilised. And for my hometown its even worse, even 15 years ago there would maybe be a handful of people there at a time, in a building that could easily fit 30-50 people.

Turning those libraries not only into a book repository but also as a place to drop your kid to play with other kids while you read, to study (think study rooms with outlets for laptops), to grab a coffee, attend a reading, etc. to me is an amazing initiative.

And there is synergy as well: you can go grab a coffee with your friend whilst your kids play, maybe browse for a new sci-fi book - and hey there is a reading which you can attend whilst your kid is preoccupied and the reading doesn’t feel dead because some other visitors and students are also attending and even if you get thirsty you can grab a tea :)

This whole wall of text might seem a little rantlike but I truly do love libraries (my mom used to take me) and seeing them reinvigorated like that is very cool.

Re: How Restaurants Got So Loud

#46

Post by willvarfar »

eponeponepon wrote: post #29
thom wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Libraries are repositories of books for people to take away. The idea that they need to provide office space for people who could just as well read at home is stupid.

Good luck taking a Gutenberg bible or a Shakespeare first folio away to read quietly at home.

Then take it to the quiet study rooms that my comment you are replying to suggests we fix! ;)

Re: How Restaurants Got So Loud

#47

Post by fredley »

dingaling wrote: post #31
fredley wrote: post #5

One thing that's becoming near-impossible is finding places to drink (as in pubs or bars) without piped music. This contributes significantly to noise. It's done of course so that we shout ourselves hoarse trying to have a conversation, so we buy more drinks to lubricate our throat, but even formerly quiet pubs near me have started doing it.

In the UK my partner and I have started going to Wetherspoons pubs. They're reviled in middle-class circles as a cheap, chavvy chain that buys-out traditional pubs but they're clean, friendly and QUIET.

I'm familiar with Spoons, the main problem is that they have TV's visible from anywhere you're sitting (at least in the ones near me) that are incredibly distracting.

Re: How Restaurants Got So Loud

#48

Post by apacheCamel »

damck wrote: post #36
watt wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If children grow up associating libraries with a place that is not fun, support for libraries will die after that generation. The Berlin city libraries absolutely have spaces for children to play (loudly) and also make point of events with readings for children, and so on. A generation will grow up associating libraries as part of their life.

Libraries aren't supposed to be "fun".

I feel like this is a very negative way to view the situation. Libraries should totally be "fun". It should be "fun" to go and find a book that you enjoy or just spend time reading in an area dedicated to the love of books. It shouldn't be a place to just drop the kids off and leave, but it should be a place kids want to go. Reading can be fun and I almost feel like it is a "trendy thing" of my generation (Millennial) to hate it.

Re: How Restaurants Got So Loud

#49

Post by Cenk »

damck wrote: post #36
watt wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If children grow up associating libraries with a place that is not fun, support for libraries will die after that generation. The Berlin city libraries absolutely have spaces for children to play (loudly) and also make point of events with readings for children, and so on. A generation will grow up associating libraries as part of their life.

Libraries aren't supposed to be "fun".

Libraries are supposed to be whatever the fuck we want them to be.

Re: How Restaurants Got So Loud

#50

Post by apacheCamel »

ekianjo wrote: post #41
rubinelli wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Kids that grow up associating libraries with fun are much more likely to want to visit them after they learn to read. Libraries are closing down because they don't have any readers.

is this a joke? the last thing most young adults like is to be surrounded by screaming children. The louder you make libraries the less people will ever want to go there.

I don't see where the comment above yours said anything about inviting screaming children into libraries. Screaming kids in most situations is frustrating and can be off-putting. Libraries should have similar social norms as anywhere else.
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