THE CHANGING NATURE OF CYBERCAFÉS
In southern California, the place of origin for so many American trends, there has been a widespread transformation of cybercafés from places where you go for a latte and a look at your stocks and e-mail, to a place where you rub shoulders with teenagers playing violent video games. In the small city of Garden Grove (population 169,000), the number of cybercafés has grown in just two years from 3 to 21, and a few of these have turned into crime scenes, some of them gang-related. The appeal of the new cybercafés is action and speed. One 13-year-old patron of a Garden Grove cybercafé says: “When you play these games at home, the action lags. These computers here are much faster. This is a great place to hang out.” In reaction to all the violence, city officials have now passed new laws restricting the hours for teenage “hanging out” at these places. (USA Today 7 Feb 2002)
http://www.usatoday.com/life/cyber/tech/2002/02/07/cybercafe.htm
Um, Garden Grove may be a “small city” but it’s embedded in the megalopolis of Los Angeles Metro. I know my Angeleno friends keep saying it’s not one city, but look at it from the air sometime and tell me where the breaks between cities are. Most locals refer to the town as “Garbage Grove,” which should tell you something about the caliber of folks that show up for their cybercafes. 🙂
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