I now fancy doing my personal stuff in a cafe. Nowadays, many people spend time alone in cafes, doing their work, like me. Some people don’t understand it. I guess the reason is that a noisy and unruly atmosphere disturbs people who are doing something requiring concentration. There’s an interesting news item on the relation between some noisy and creativity.

According to the Journal of Consumer Research, a moderate (70 dB) vs. low (50 dB) level of ambient noise enhances the performance of creative tasks and increases the buying likelihood of innovative products. A high noise level (85 dB), on the other hand, hurts creativity.

Many cafes are designed with sufficient outlets for plugging laptop cords into, and offer free WiFi for their customers. The customers have to pay for such service, though, like buying a cup of coffee. I think that the price of the coffee is computed based on the possibility that the customer may stay long in the cafe, and covers the convenient amenities the cafe provides rather than corresponds to high quality on the beverages.

The price is seemingly a bitter pill to swallow. Don’t worry. There’s a Web service that supplies cafe noise based on the above research results: Coffitivity (for “coffee” and “productivity”). It seems very useful to be able to feel the peculiar ambience of a cafe at home. It’s great when you can empty your mind and find inspiration to carry out a certain task.