LAPTOP ZOMBIE

n.

At a coffee shop or similar establishment that offers free wireless Internet, a person who is oblivious to everyone and everything except the screen in front of them.

No, protests Jon Myerow, who owns a couple of craft-beer-and-cheese-centric Tria cafes in Center City, he's not a Luddite. He's as addicted to his BlackBerry as the next guy. But there's a time and a place: "When you're out with friends, we should be with friends."...But that's not quite how it often goes down these days —laptop zombieslurking in Starbucks, dates dumped (for 10 full minutes at a time) to answer texts, silent ESPN crawls above the bar, as distracting as snakes on a plane.

—Rick Nichols, " Unplugging a wine bar to let the conversation pour forth: http://www.philly.com/inquirer/columnists/rick_nichols/20100826_Rick_Nichols__Unplugging_a_wine_bar_to_let_the_conversation_pour_forth.html,"The Philadelphia Inquirer, August 26, 2010

Walk into any coffeehouse or tea bar in America, and you will most likely hear a lot of ... silence. Maybe the light clicking of keys on a keyboard. Some soft music being provided by the establishment. Occasionally, a pair of people seated at the same table talking in hushed tones. But very little in the way of conversation, discussion or exchange of ideas. It sounds and feels a lot like a library...The dude sitting next to you in his comfy Starbucks chair might as well be a thousand miles away—his mind probably is...We have become a Nation OfLaptop Zombies.

—Tom Wright, " Are We Becoming A Nation OfLaptop Zombies?: http://open.salon.com/blog/tomjwright/2010/02/17/are_we_becoming_a_nation_of_laptop_zombies,"Open Salon, February 17, 2010

By design, Starbucks, Borders, Barriques and a couple of dozen independent coffeehouses around Madison have become virtual offices.In some coffee shops a table without a laptop is the exception. "We call themlaptop zombies," said Matt Weygandt, a partner in the five Barriques locations in and around Madison.

—Samara Kalk Derby, "Virtual offices,"The Capital Times & Wisconsin State Journal, May 23, 2007

DWT

iPod oblivion

Wi-Fi squatter

zombee

zombie bank

zombie computer

zombie debtor

zombie lie

Hardware

Lifestyles

People