Why so much anti-laptop sentiment?

faringdon

Does any one know what is going
on with this "anti-laptop" thing?
Go on any train, or any waiting room, and make the slightest keyboard click
and people go nuts...they start stamping their feet , or whatever , repeatedly in kind of "revenge noise".
I mean, the other day, I was in M&S Cafe near Southampton, and I was on my laptop...running
an electronics simulation, I wasn't even typing, was making no noise. Then the bloke on the next table greeted
his mate, and said...look we've even got a guy on a laptop for you, pointing to me....and he immediately started stamping his feet in quicktime...
...the other day, I was on a train on my laptop, and a guy said. hey up, we've got a laptop over there....and they were
going on out loud about "idiots with laptops...and "why on earth he has to be on his laptop on Friday evening anyway".

Even at work...if anyone starts typing, somebody else in the office starts "revenge tapping" on the table.

I was in the British Library the other day, and a guy was typing….and the noise was driving a person mad, and they started shouting, "shutup" "shutup".

Surely we can accept that typing is a totally necessary thing for the working world?

How can anyone find the sound irritating?

What's going on?

Jemma01

Back in the day at university, I shared an office with 4 other teaching assistants. 3 of them were fine, but the 4th was tapping the laptop like his life dependent on it. I struggled to work with him typing like that, I gifted him an Apple keyboard that was nice and quiet.

Most typing is fine, but some take the mick

Sam_666

I think you are being over paranoid and if anyone does make weird comment, just tell them to mind their bussines.
In coffee shops I go, many people use laptops and none even notice them.
My advice, invest in decent noise cancelling headphones.

NorfolkCanary

Counter point…

Why does eveyone have to accept that everywhere has to be an extension of a workplace in order to cater for those 'business' people? I don't spend money on leisure or spare time to listen to Thumbelina's chat about her mum's sister's neighbour's cousin's tooth removal procedure, nor do I get paid or have to listen to Barnaby clacking away on his keyboard to purchase a superyacht and email his boss to say he's going to be away on his 3rd sabbatical of the year.

Last time I checked a coffee shop is for drinking {beverage}, conversation etc… A library is for reading books, research or use of their own computers. Nowhere should be an extension of the workplace to satisfy those who have a laptop, or want to recreate Trigger Happy TV skit.

Business people can work from an office, home, go to the park etc…

elsien

I have never experienced anything remotely similar to the OP. Not havs I seen it when other people are using a laptop in a public place. Revenge tapping? I would suggest you may be mishearing or misinterpreting some of what is going on.

The only issue is when people spend 3 hours working in a small independent cafe having bought one drink. I do have to use cafes etc to work for a couple of hours as our office closed and my work patch is an hour from home. But I will always use bigger places (thank you Spoons for the free refills) but they don’t mind and my laptop does not “tap”.

flaneurs_lobster

I learnt to touch type on a Remington portable that was old when my Dad acquired it in his teens. You had to hit those things hard to get any kind of readable printing. Next time I had to use a keyboard it was big IBM mechanical jobs attached to card punches and later terminals. Those things were indestructible (as long as you emptied out the fag ash once a week) with long travel on the keys - absolutely encouraged noisy bashing.

When I was freelancing, the way to scare the permies was to type fast'n'loud while looking out of the window.

I live near a University and laptops are ubiquitous in the coffee shops, although not so much pubs - maybe just different demographics, not so much pub-going for students. Never seen the behaviour the OP cites, but maybe if the noise of typing was actually intrusive - even I have asked a phone user to turn off the beepy feedback on every keyboard touch, nobody needs that annoyance.

There's a TV drama/cinema cliche where the IT nerd needs to hack into The Pentagon/MI5/Big Pharma/PNC where to signify that they are using their skill they type very fast (Foley artists will add the clacking noise later) while screeds of what looks a bit like C/Unix appears on a screen. Maybe the Revenge Tappers are channelling this?

oldernonethewiser

Never heard of or experienced anti-laptop sentiment.

Sounds highly unlikely.

Or made up bait.

LightFlare

I used to work with a key/keyboard basher

The constant sound for 10 hours a day drove me nuts - like Chinese water torture

It’s one of those situations, that once you notice it, you can’t un-notice it. It made concentrating extremely hard

As for the library scenario - I’m with the complainer. Quiet please,means just that- not bash/click away on a noisy keyboard.

Emmia

I think OP perhaps you need a different type of keyboard, to minimise noise if you're a basher.... And if you're getting these comments, then you are one.

outtatune

Never heard comments remotely like this. I suspect the OP is underestimating the force they are using to smash those keys.

Frozen_up_north

"Business people can work from an office, home, go to the park etc…"

Business people generate money in the form of taxes. Nothing wrong with that.

One local pub even offers free WiFi, unlimited coffee/tea, electrical sockets and a table in a corner for business people to come and type away on their laptops and make phone calls. I am not sure of the cost but it isn't much, from memory it is £10 for all day, or £5 half a day. I guess they will buy a meal, soft drinks as an alternative to coffee, etc. It's a winner for the pub as not many customers are there during the day.

One very successful cafe that I sometimes visit usually has several business people using their laptops at the table, it helps that it has a big car park and 500 Mb/s business grade unlimited free WiFi.

Anyone who doesn't want nearby folks using laptops should visit a Sam Smiths pub, they ban the use of mobile phones and laptops… yet strangely are happy for you to use your phone to pay at the bar!