This Coffee Shop Just Wants Everyone To Stop Instagram-ing Already

This Coffee Shop Just Wants Everyone To Stop Instagram-ing Already


It didn’t work in Australia, but nobody ever learns, do they? Four Barrel Coffee in San Francisco had something of a problem with loud customers being all “hipstery” and annoying the neighbours, so they posted a notice kindly asking hipsters to shut the hell up. Only a few days later, the sign had to be amended to include another forbidden act which had suddenly become popular: Instagram-ing the sign.

The whole situation is a bit absurd, and it’s likely the Instagram ban is at least somewhat in jest, but Four Barrel Coffee is known for its less-than-accommodating stance towards technology. There’s no outright ban on tech, but the shop refuses to offer Wi-Fi — practically a given these days — in hopes of keeping things low-tech and low-key.

It might not be a bad idea, considering how hellish a coffee house can be when too many people are trying to use it as an office. One thing is for sure, this Instagram “ban” is probably just going to result in a lot of pictures of that sign on Instagram.

The same problem emerged in Australia when Grill’d — a gourmet burger joint — imposed a social media ban while eating that was mostly designed to stop you from taking photos of your food. Unsurprisingly, most people just took photos of the notices telling you not to take photos. [TechCrunch]


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