Grab a coffee and hit the books : Cafes have overtaken libraries as preferred spot for studying
Many students hold study groups and study independently at a cafe located near to Seoul National University Station, line No. 2, in Gwangak District, southwestern Seoul, on May 31. They are often called kagong people, a new nickname for people who study at cafes.[WOO SANG-JO]
Han Gyeong-rok, a student at Seoul National University, visits a coffee franchise near the school where students often fill up the third floor, either reading books or looking at their computer screens. There is a communal table often seen at libraries and charging outlets for electronic devices by each seat.
“It feels suffocating at a library and you have to be careful when you turn the pages of your books in order to not make too much noise,” said Han. “So, I came to a cafe.”
Alba Heaven, a job seeking website, conducted a survey last month which revealed that going to a cafe to study rather than to chat with friends is quickly becoming a trend. Out of 765 respondents, 64.9 percent answered that a coffee shop is where they go to study, read or work on their computer, while only 23.4 percent chose a library.
People prefer cafes over libraries because they are more widely available and accessible than libraries, and they allow visitors to eat while they study. A 27-year-old surnamed Shin who works at an IT company and is a citizen reporter for a news site chooses to work out of a cafe close to his home.
“About three to five libraries are in each district, but you can see about five to six cafes within a 100-meter (328-foot) radius of wherever you stand,” said Shin. “And since a cafe isn’t a place where need to keep quiet, you don’t have to worry about [making sounds] from typing, and you can enjoy coffee or wine as you read.”
Even younger students in junior high or high school choose to study at cafes, especially in areas where private institutes are highly concentrated like Daechi-dong in southern Seoul.
A middle school student studies in a cafe in Daechi-dong, Gangnam District, southern Seoul. Studying in cafes has become popular with both adults and youngsters. [YOON JAE-YOUNG]
“The library, ironically, has some distractions that may lure me away from studying like comic books,” said Gang. “My parents prefer that I study at a cafe rather than at a library.”
Many students also choose to have lessons with private tutors at cafes instead of having them at home.
The trend has even inspired the new term, kagong. The portmanteau combines the first syllables of cafe and the Korean word for study, which is gongbu.
With kagong becoming more and more common, big name franchises and small mom and pop coffee shops are responding in different ways. Most franchises have enough space to house people who come to study or chat, and don’t have to worry about losing sales as they have a steady flow of customers who order drinks to take out.
“We don’t really lose business due to [people who study],” said an official from Starbucks. “We want to make our shops a gathering place for each community where one can study and work.”
However, small cafes that only have about 10 tables and don’t have high traffic to their stores from on-the-go customers are considering whether they need to require those who study to make another order after some time.
Experts say that there needs to be an effort to create some kind of social agreement regarding people going to cafes that spend more time than what they are paying for.
“Since people are constantly looking for a place to study, it can be beneficial for even small cafes to be known as places that people can stay comfortably for a long time, except during what’s normally known as busy hours,” said Kwon Young-June, a professor at Kyunghee University’s International Management department.
BY KIM NA-HAN, YOON JAE-YOUNG [summerlee@joongang.co.kr]
with the Korea JoongAng Daily
To write comments, please log in to one of the accounts.
Standards Board Policy (0/250자)