Fretting about Facebook, 17th century style

Economist technology editor Tom Standage, author of the 1998 classic The Victorian Internet (a history of the telegraph), gives us a glimpse of his upcoming book Cicero’s Web (due in 2013), which explores the social media revolution created by the coffee houses of the 17th century. As Standage points out, all the hand-wringing over time-wasting and intellectual decay attended by Facebook and its like are nothing new:

Enthusiasm for coffeehouses was not universal, however, and some observers regarded them as a worrying development. They grumbled that Christians had taken to a Muslim drink instead of traditional English beer, and fretted that the livelihoods of tavern-keepers might be threatened. But most of all they lamented that coffeehouses were distracting people who ought to be doing useful work, rather than networking and sharing trivia with their acquaintances.

When coffee became popular in Oxford and the coffeehouses selling it began to multiply, the university authorities objected, fearing that coffeehouses were promoting idleness and diverting students from their studies. Anthony Wood, an Oxford antiquarian, was among those who denounced the enthusiasm for the new drink. “Why doth solid and serious learning decline, and few or none follow it now in the university?” he asked. “Answer: Because of coffee-houses, where they spend all their time.” Similar concerns were voiced in Cambridge, where one observer noted that

it is become a custom after chapel to repair to one or other of the coffee houses (for there are divers), where hours are spent in talking, and less profitable reading of newspapers, of which swarms are continually supplied from London. And the scholars are so greedy after news (which is none of their business) that they neglect all for it, and it is become very rare for any of them to go directly to his chamber after prayers without first doing his suit at the coffee-house, which is a vast loss of time grown out of a pure novelty. For who can apply close to a subject with his head full of the din of a coffee-house?

The distractions of social media, 1673 style (via Kottke)

• [mat catastrophe]

  Coffeehouse culture was wildly diverse and fostered a feeling of actual community within communities. The debates were often lively and intellectual and feared by many of the ruling class as being hothouses of revolutionary thought.

  Facebook, on the other hand, is a corporate-sponsored homogenous cancer aimed at getting people that “liking” a cause is the same as doing something for the cause and passing around misinformation and idiocy.

  But, whatever.

  • [Jerril]

    Coffee houses were businesses, run by business men, not altruistic public meeting places.
    Gossip over coffee is no more accurate than gossip on a “wall” or by fax machine.

    • [mat catastrophe]

       The “business” men of the 1700s *were* the revolution. They wanted an end to the monarchies and entrenched aristocracies that they viewed as unnecessarily restrictive of them and, to that end, were more than happy to serve as a place where both intellectuals and rabble-rousers  could meet-and-greet.

      As to the gossip, that’s quite true. But allowing gossip to magnify outside of a small collective of individuals and run amok, causing millions of people to buy into a completely nonsensical view of the world is a slightly different cup of joe. I imagine the “rumors” in small coffee shops were themselves small, and easily discounted.

      • [Antinous / Moderator]

        The “business” men of the 1700s *were* the revolution. They wanted an end to the monarchies and entrenched aristocracies….

        Didn’t they just want to replace them with themselves?

        • [mat catastrophe]

           Well, yes, but the peons who were going to get sent to the barricades or out into the woods with rifles didn’t need to know that.

          Cf: Tea Party rank and file today.
          Or, for that matter, MoveOn.org people

  • [Dr. Roboto]

     I think the problem is that we’re seeing very little value returned by FB.  It’s obvious they’re mining the world for every little thing they can, but what’s the great advantage besides limiting people’s ability to make obnoxious myspace pages that burned your retinas and played crap music? 

    Social gaming?  I guess, but we had that anyway.  Sharing of music with spotify?  Yes, but both people need to have spotify to really benefit much. 

    • [Cefeida]

      The only, and greatest value of Facebook is quickly spreading news of and generating interest in events which would otherwise receive little attention. 

      Last week, I went to a super interesting, free tour of the old town organised by a little group of history buffs. Why did over a hundred people show up ? Facebook. Without it, the attendance may well have been zero.I don’t limit my use of facebook to tracking interesting events (it’s fun to chat with people, too) but it’s a goldmine. 

  • [Roach McKrackin]

    Congratulations, you got 10 Likes :-)

• [robcat2075]

  Even J.S Bach found time to ponder the problem of  coffee (and the women who drink it) in his “Coffee Cantata”.

  Almost all of his vocal music is sacred church music so this was a rare topical excursion for him.

  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c7oWS8VCLYE

• [Jonathan Badger]

  Whenever British people talk about how tea is so traditionally British, it’s always worth remembering that they were coffee drinkers before they were into tea, and that Isaac Newton was a coffee fan. Tea didn’t get big until the height of the British Empire.

• [Benjamin Slade]

  I suppose the question is: did 17th-c. coffee-houses also collect information about their customers to sell to the Crown and local businesses?

  • [billstewart]

     I suspect the proprietor of a coffee-house, like the proprietor of a traditional tavern, knew who the usual customers were, what the liked to drink and eat, and who they’d been hanging out with recently.  And if the Crown wanted to have a talk with him, he might or might not tell them the interesting bits.  But if they wanted to hang around and observe, they were welcome to do so as long as they bought the occasional drink – but that kind of spying was a retail business, not wholesale.

• [ROSSINDETROIT]

  I read The Victorian Internet on a recommendation from another blog.  It’s short and fascinating.  Modern speed-of-light communication and its world changing effects are much older than you would think.

  • [Dr. Roboto]

    I’m just listening to an audiobook on Woodrow Wilson (fu, why not!) and he was thought very cutting edge for using a typewriter, riding a bike, and golfing. He also like car rides, but never learned to drive. He took office the year my grandfather was born and was elected only 100 years ago.

    • [billstewart]

      And he “kept us out of war”, and then dragged us in to war, and rabidly suppressed free speech, especially by Socialists who didn’t think the US should get into war (this was even before we got into the war), and is generally in competition with G.W.Bush for Worst President Ever.  (Though if you count Jefferson Davis as one America’s presidents, there’s really no competition for the top spot.)
      At least he vetoed Prohibition, though Congress overrode him.

• [Art]

  This is a wonderful post!  Thank you,BB.

  As far as Oxford coffee houses are concerned,  The Kings Arms on Broad Street needn’t worry.  They’ve switched to Guinness a long time ago :)

• [Dr. Roboto]

  Two observation-questions

  1. They didn’t appreciate the importance of sharing information, I wonder what we’re failing to appreciate?

  2. Authority appears always to determined to limit communication, how come?

• [Bender]

  I’ve always thought that the forums and groups of the web are very much like the French cafés of the early 1900′s, but Facebook? Not so much. Facebook is more like the cotton candy kiosk of the internet.

• [timquinn]

  They were right to worry that those people would destroy their world. We’re still at it and have made a lot of progress.

  Don’t give up, coffee drinkers!

• [Corrie Engelbrecht]

  I think the real waste of time was going to chapel before going to the coffee house.