Offline Cafés and Pop-ups Create Opportunities to Connect with Strangers and Disconnect from Tech

At the northern edge of Boulder, Colorado (one of the happiest cities in America, according to Blue Zones and Gallup research), nestled just a few blocks away from the town’s popular hiking trails, lies a constantly bustling and bright coffee shop. Arrive any time during the morning rush, and a line out the door for Beleza Coffee Bar awaits. Upon entering the shop, customers are greeted by plant-adorned shelves of Fair Trade artisan goods, a case of healthy and locally made provisions, and large art pieces along the walls. And while customers come for the delicious rotating selections of coffee, there is something especially unique about this café that keeps the space abuzz and alive: they do not offer WiFi.

Small signs next to each table at Beleza alert customers to the fact that the establishment does not offer free internet access–an increasingly rare occurrence as coffee shops have shifted into pseudo-office environments ever since the post-pandemic rise in remote working. Greg Lefcourt, co-owner of Beleza alongside Nafisa Ramos, shared that the café’s decision to go internet-free came about as they reimagined what they wanted the space to feel like once they reopened for indoor seating after over a year of closure due to pandemic restrictions.

“Having 100% of the people in the shop just zombied out on a laptop…that’s not the vibe we wanted to create,” said Lefcourt. “We just said we’re not providing WiFi–let’s try that and just encourage people to get off their screens. […] Our motto is to enjoy coffee and create community. In order to do that, people have to be able to communicate with one another.”

The co-owners’ choice not only created more available seating for customers throughout the day (since tables turned over quicker with fewer workers camping out on laptops), but it also allowed people to spend some time away from the devices that had dominated their lives for months on end during lockdowns. Customers have since appreciated the resulting atmosphere in the shop, where at times, there isn’t a single laptop inside. Instead, tables are filled with readers, journalers, and conversationalists.

“What we’ve seen since this change is that every table and chair is occupied and the room is bustling with energy–with people connecting, talking, engaging with each other, and having a real community spot,” he said.

Though the majority of customers have reacted positively to the shop’s no-WiFi policy, Lefcourt has also received pushback from patrons since the change. “We’ve had people tell us, ‘How dare you? What is a coffee shop without free WiFi?’” he said.

Today, few places offer starker displays of Americans’ chronic connection to the internet than a local coffee shop. Indeed: what is a coffee shop without free WiFi? At most establishments, customers are near-guaranteed the sight of tables crammed with laptops and smartphones, and chairs occupied by remote workers with noise-canceling headphones. Few people interact beyond taking their coffee order, and tables max-out with parties of one. The scene is one of many in a nation where the ever-increasing amount of time people spend on the internet and social media is constantly keeping them in front of flickering screens instead of interacting face-to-face.

At any given moment, about one in every two Americans is experiencing measurable levels of loneliness–a staggering fact that’s now a significant public health concern, declared a loneliness epidemic. The U.S. Surgeon General, Dr. Vivek Murthy, has warned that loneliness is now as deadly as smoking 15 cigarettes a day and more lethal than consuming six alcoholic drinks a day. In fact, social isolation (or even the perception of isolation) can increase inflammation in the body to the same degree as physical inactivity. Those experiencing chronic loneliness also have higher risks of experiencing anxiety, depression, heart disease, dementia, and stroke.

 The good news for those experiencing loneliness is that socializing is some of the best medicine. In fact, the frequency of face-to-face interactions one has on a regular basis is one of the strongest predictors of how long they will live. People who feel a strong sense of community belongingness are 2.6 times more likely to be in good or excellent health than those with low sense of community belongingness. This is partially because frequent social interaction helps to minimize the negative effects of stress and inflammation, both of which directly impact our immune systems. And while both quantity and quality of our social interactions matter for our well-being and happiness, both strong and weak social bonds can help one achieve the associated longevity benefits.

This is where coffee shops come in. “What is a coffee shop without free WiFi?” As it turns out, a lot. Before the internet, coffee shops served as a critical third space for creating some of the less significant but much-needed social interactions in our daily lives. Third spaces–a term coined by sociologist Ray Oldenburg in 1989–are places outside of home and the workplace where people can interact freely and casually with their communities. They show up in several of the original blue zones, like the kafeneíos (greek cafés) in Ikarian villages, where residents in their nineties often meet with friends; or the local bars in Sardinian villages where centenarians finish each day drinking wine and laughing with friends; or the moais in Okinawan communities–groups of friends who commit to each other for life and meet on a regular basis to provide social and financial support to each other. Without access to third spaces, one’s sense of community often dissolves.

With the rise of the gig-economy and the post-COVID spike in remote workers, coffee shop owners like Lefcourt–stewards of these trusty third spaces–are now faced with balancing a community atmosphere with that of an office to retain customers. It’s becoming rare to see cafés filled with customers partaking in solely offline activities, like playing board games, reading, working on crosswords puzzles, journaling, sketching, or simply chatting with close friends. 

Research shows that people are generally happier and healthier the more that they socialize. The key for coffee shop owners looking to nurture community space is to make socializing the easy option, lightly nudging customers into interacting.

“Here, you can have a hotspot if you want,” said Lefcourt on Beleza. “We don’t discourage it, we just don’t make it so comfortable that you’d want to stay for hours and hours.” Instead of making it easy for people to sit at a table alone and on a computer, shop owners could also try limiting WiFi access on the weekends, removing pastry labels or price labels to spark conversations, saving larger tables for people without laptops, or increasing event programming to encourage social activity. Nearly 5,000 miles away from Boulder, in Amsterdam, Netherlands, another group is attempting the latter to revamp café social atmospheres, and their results are speaking for themselves.

 

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Since the beginning of 2024, a Netherlands-based start-up called The Offline Club has been encouraging people to go offline at cafés at regularly occurring pop-up events. The rapidly growing project asks people to “swap screen time for real-time” at each of the offline-only meet-ups that they host. Instead of scrolling or working in the day’s chosen coffee shop, attendees drop their phones in lockboxes at the door and unplug for the duration of the meet-up. Event programming encourages attendees to alternate between chatting and connecting, then taking time to themselves to draw, read, embroider, do a crossword, or any other activity provided it doesn’t disturb others.

The Offline Club began as small pop-up gatherings at select cafés across Amsterdam, but they have quickly grown into a multi-city movement. A few of the club’s Instagram videos about their events went viral (over 15 million views each) and within six weeks of their first offline hangout, their account had 150,000 followers. The increased reach and international interest allowed their team to begin hosting events in additional cities across The Netherlands, as well as in Aarhus, Denmark (one of the world’s happiness hotspots, according to Blue Zones research). Today, still less than a year since launching, The Offline Club has well over a quarter million followers on Instagram, and their events are frequented by city locals and visitors alike who are looking to disconnect from tech and reconnect with their communities. The response is a testament to the shared desire around the world to be connected with others and a part of a community.

What people are seeing when they step into Beleza and lose internet access, or when they lock their phones away briefly at an Offline Club event, is what has been there all along: a third space for meeting new people in the neighborhood, sharing a conversation with a stranger, trying a new food or beverage, and enjoying the sights and sounds of people going about their day. This is what a coffee shop can be without free WiFi.

 

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Those who have been feeling the effects of the loneliness epidemic in America, ironically, are not alone. Pop-up events like those hosted by The Offline Club and nudges like limiting WiFi use at Beleza Coffee Bar are both examples of how coffee shops can be designed to make it easier for people to interact with their community day-to-day. By making more time for small, in-person interactions at a third space nearby, just as people in the original blue zones do, overall happiness and well-being can improve. The local coffee shop is the perfect place to start, just remember to try leaving the computer and noise-canceling headphones behind next time.

Sophia Piña-McMahon is the Marketing & Communications Coordinator at Blue Zones. She is a multimedia journalist and digital marketing professional who specializes in stories at the nexus of food, culture, health, and the environment. Sophia’s work has previously been published in Lonely Planet, the Mad Agriculture Journal, and local Colorado news outlets. She holds a Masters of the Environment in Sustainable Food Systems from University of Colorado Boulder and a Bachelor of Science in Anthropology and Geography from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo