I don’t often go to coffee shops, especially independent ones which usually have that artisanal feel to them, but whenever I did, it always felt the same as with all the rest that I’ve gone to before. Almost all coffee shops these days follow the trend of the “millennial aesthetic” or some variation of it. And one can’t blame them, since that’s what it takes to keep their businesses afloat with consumer preferences leaning toward that kind of “experience” or the “Instagrammability” of the cafe.
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In this piece, Kyle Chayka dives deep into the tyranny of the algorithm, and how it has shaped, not just coffee shops, but also co-working spaces, startup offices, and every other physical space out there. It breeds homogeneity and monotony. In a diverse world, that does seem odd. But it shouldn’t come as a surprise with the rise of the millennial cohort, whose digital savvy brought such aesthetics to the forefront.
Still, what strikes me as the most crucial in this analysis is the irony of the disproportionality of benefits that platforms such as Instagram or Yelp offer businesses. Although they are great tools to use for promotions and advertising, in the long run, they make it harder for businesses to maintain engagement without being taxed by the platforms themselves.
In the end, the biggest winners are still just the big corporations who have monopoly over these spaces and means to reach millions. Even we, the consumers, are at their mercy as our information, likes, dislikes, shares, and follows become commodified. In an age when individuality and uniqueness are celebrated, it does get to the point when the sameness of it all becomes mundane. – via Messy Nessy Chic
(Image credit: Jonas Jacobsson/Unsplash)
Source: neatorama