CELL PHONE/LAPTOP/TABLET POLICY

Not on speaker, please.

We’ve taken great care in creating a space that is hospitable and comfortable for all, from the cozy furniture, to the decor, and musical selections that we feel are as accessible and universal as they are unobtrusive. Speaker phones (and other amplified technologies) we feel work in opposition of the environment we’ve curated, and feel very confident that no has felt their experience would be improved with the presence of a device being played on speaker.

Musical selections are as just as important in creating an atmosphere as lighting and decor, and a large part of this has to do with frequencies. Bass frequencies carry sound, whereas higher frequencies drown them out, which is why we’ve curated playlists which exist primarily on the lower end of the spectrum. Played at the same volume, songs that are more dominated by high frequencies are more obtrusive, are harder to hear/speak over, and are therefore more intrusive than music that is lower in frequency.

Simply put; music dominated by lower end makes for better background in public spaces.

But, what does this have to do with my cellphone/laptop/tablet being on speaker?

Now, knowing that larger speakers produce lower frequencies, and smaller speakers produce higher frequencies, and that higher frequencies are more obtrusive, we need to consider the size of the speaker in your cellphone/laptop/tablet. They’re teeny-tiny, and the sound/frequency they emit is harsh and intrusive to the ears of everyone but the user. From a distance of anything more than a few feet they sounds akin to detuned radio static or a shaken box of angry bees. We’re confident in saying that no one has welcomed the sound of another’s cellphone/laptop/tablet being played on speaker in a public space. At best, it’s quietly tolerated, but only because the potential confrontation carries with it a risk of conflict that would be a greater threat to the individual’s comfort than saying nothing and suffering in silence.

It’s for this reason that—when the various signage in the space has gone unnoticed—we take it upon ourselves to politely ask customers to not use their devices on speaker.

We strongly feel the onus of confrontation should never be put upon the customer. Having our clientele sit in suffrage wondering why no one is saying anything about the offending amplified device would put us in dereliction of our customer service duties.

Conversation, children at play, boisterous laughter—these are all sounds that are part of the human experience and are generally accepted as part of venturing out into public spaces, but we don’t feel that devices used on speaker are a welcomed or accepted by anyone other than the user. No one wants to hear your tik-toks, your wedding fail reaction reels, your FaceTime with family, Zoom meetings, or fishing videos that sound suspiciously like pornography.

It’s for these reasons that Dog-Eared Café is a speaker-phone free zone, and we ask only that you participate in making it the cozy little space we’ve intended it to be for all.

Thank you for being amazing. Thank you for being kind. :D