cafe culture / for the picture
11/11/25
im currently sitting and writing this entry in a matcha cafe thats worth 240 pesos for a cup. in fairness the matcha is really good and really sweet, but it definitly isnt worth 240 pesos. i get that its high quality, but its definitely not affordable for losers like me. anyways, the ambience is good. people leave me alone because in most cases, i am the only one alone here. its been at least 3 hours since i got here and sitting down and opening my laptop to do additional work, so people naturally go in and out of this place. so far, ive seen five seperate groups of people go in and out, in and out, in and out. and all of the cases they bring some kind of digital camera to document their trip here. i have my headphones on so i cannot eavesdrop the conversation these people are having. im sat against a wall with album covers taped to it for decoration. my legs are getting really sore since ive been sitting down cross-legged the entire time, im only just now adjusting my position. but anyways, back to the people, ive only noticed in my peripheral vision that they only have at least 20 minutes of conversation and then the last 10 minutes of their trip comes down to them taking pictures of every angle of the cafe, just not including me in the back though. and while working on my paper, ive been left thinking with an additional thought in mind.
ive already written about my thoughts on the whole epidemic of the "performative" label. i still sometimes fear about the term being directed towards me, but not as much as previosuly. in fact, im already alone in this cafe with an empty matcha cup in a sidetable next to me, but i am thoroughly enjoying myself here. but what i am noticing now is that i dont think the people here are "performative" in a sense, but the cafes now are the ones that are pushing "performative"-ality. think about it, cafes nowadays have to thrive in people posting, sharing, mentioning them in order to stay in business, and i dont think it is necessarily their fault as well. we live in an age where people document unneeded things, people dont tend to go to cafes for conversation and recreation anymore, its more of a way to be in a place that best resembles who you are as a person, if i am making sense here, hopefully i am. but why are we making fun of the "performative" label when this narrative is constantly being pushed by cafes in order for them to profit? people NEED to be performative for cafes now to exist and thrive, and i really think thats an issue now.
a few months, maybe a year ago, i cant recall, i was in a cafe that was nearby my house and this cafe is very small, like very small. its the size of a middle class filipino living room, and everything is cramped to compliment. the seats were spaced very near, and while i was loitering alone again, a group of people from my school came in. as a regular group would do, they check around the area, order their drinks. but what kind of irked me is that at least two or three of these people in the friend group had flimsy digital cameras to document every nook and cranny of the cafe, and their friends. and while i do advocate for people to return to older technology, cause i think its cool, these people had flashes on in all their shots, practically making this small cafe into a photo studio with the amount of pictures they were taking of the coffee, their friends, the cafes interior, basically everything. mind you, there is an additional customer in this cafe, that guy was me! they really didnt care for the additional stranger here. have you no shame? anyways, since the tables were so close to each other, the group naturally sat down next to my table. and they left literally moments after they finished their coffee, which was weird. i couldnt hear any conversation being made, and from the times i did glance over to them, they all seemed busy looking at their phones. that really made me sad honestly. again, this experience dosent dictate modern cafe culture altogether, but its experiences like that that really sours the apple for me to bite into. is everything really for the picture now? i have to ask.
at what point can cafes be profitable without a heavy hitting look to it? the influence is absent without the influencer, and there really isnt any ways for cafes to thrive without the "performative" people taking pictures of everything. as of writing this, i just glanced over and i actually am finding people actively conversating in the table in front of me, which is really nice. but the previous people in the hours ive been staying in this cafe to work on things, they had to bring their matcha cup to the camera and take a picture, they had to hog at the stairway for the picture, they had to open the windows, dust off the decorative books, for the picture. we all have to post eveything we see, everything we experience, and while i am definitely a main sinner for that before, people are people. people are weird. people are scared of other people.
update like 10 minutes later: im not even joking after writing this entry and clicking "save", the same people i talked about having a nice conversation in the near end of this babble is currently taking pictures for 5 minutes now getting every angle of this cafe, and one of them joked that they are performative. i feel u girl...,,