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noisy cyber cafes (Internet places)

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suspirar
  2/25/2010 21:16 EST

I´m posting under the Mexico forum because each country has a different culture.

Internet cafes in Latin America can be pretty loud. People will play music videos or music without using headphones. Sometimes people will wear headphones but will sing along to the music. Some people will read their Internet pages aloud. Kids will slam their pogs down on the ground while their parents use the computer.

This year, in Puerto Vallarta, the man next to me in a cyber started playing music, in English, on his computer very loud, to broadcast it to the whole cyber. He did not have any headphones at his computer. Finally, I unplugged the headphones from my computer and offered them to him, saying, "¿Puedes usar estos?" He replied "No." He got offended. He stopped his music, told me, "F@Çking gringos, you have to have it your way," and left (which was good for me, but I was shocked). I didn´t think he would get that offended. I think he was Mexican, judging by his accent.

Even when the person next to you uses headphones, the noise from the headphones can be a little irritating. However, today I learned that if you listen to an Internet radio station like live365.com by headphones while on the Internet, you won´t notice the music from your neighbor´s headphones.

So then, while listening to music by headphone, I wasn´t hearing much distracting noise, until the operator of the cybercafe starting playing music for the whole cybercafe. Then their was a clash of music between the cyber´s music and my headphones. In this case, I didn´t know if I should ask for him to use headphones. His music was interfering with my headphones, but his music helped drown out background noise, which can be distracting (and many would find his music to be delightful and better than silence).

Maybe it is unrealistic to expect enough peace to concentrate in these cybercafes. When the bar next to the cyber blares music, there´s not much that you can do about it.

How have you or other people dealt with the situation of noise or distracting music in cybers?

RVGRINGO
  2/26/2010 09:37 EST

You are correct in noticing that the culture is different. Mexicans must have music and there is no way you are going to change that. I understand the reaction you got when you interfered and offended the person by offering him earphones.
If you try to 'deal with' this cultural difference, you will soon find yourself without local acceptance, or you will be on your way north again. It is you who must adapt to your new surroundings.

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Mirto
  2/26/2010 12:42 EST

The worst time that I had in a cyber cafe was when an American man in a too loud voice insisted on talking about his real estate deals to various people in the States. Thought I licked the problem when my computer stopped working and I could go to the back room. I could still hear him! Everyone else ignored him. I thought, "how rude and ostentatious!" I really wanted to tell him to shut up, but that would have been poor form.

suspirar
  2/27/2010 14:00 EST

I think I have to accept that Internet cafes are terrible places for learning, reading, and writing. I read in a psychology book about how kids who go to schools near airports learn less well than kids who attend quieter schools. When an airport opens near a school, the kids there start performing worse.

Often in a Mexican cyber, a car drives up, advertising items for sale over a loud speaker (like right now), and there is nothing we can do about it, as the car sits there to do business.

Recently, an older Mexican man came into a cyber with his iPod, probably to block out noise. Some young Mexicans started laughing really loud, but since they were joking around in Spanish, it did not distract me too much. But the older man, who was trying to type a document, got up and yelled to them that he was trying to work. He was not a good typist, as evident by his hunt-and-peck method, which shook our table.

I have noticed that after turning 30, I am more sensitive to noise than when I was 20. Another friend of mine, who is a bit older than 30, also noticed how he is now more bothered by distracting noise. Perhaps because Latin Americans are younger than Americans, they are less bothered by noise.

Then again, during Carnaval in Mexico, sometimes an adult band would start voluntarily playing (without pay) music next to another band that was playing. Some members of the first band seemed annoyed, but they said nothing. The two songs would conflict with each other, creating noise. I think in the USA, someone from the first band would have said something to the 2nd band.

I think we are just screwed in cybers. Sometimes I like to go to cybers just to enjoy the music that the cyber is playing, but this music must interfere with things that some people are trying to hear.

prbowley
  3/3/2010 11:58 EST

Where I live in Pto Progreso, Yucatan, there are so many cybercafes, many are empty of users. I was in one where someone was playing a movie without headphones and the audio was LOUD. I could deal with that until the American "F" word was used. The word became offensive when it was continually shouted out over the speaker. I am not sure anyone else understood the significance of the word. I lost control and shouted for the guy to stop playing the movie or use the headphones. He and the clerk on duty smiled at me. I asked if they understood what word meant, but there was no response. I kept it up until the guy stopped playing the movie. Cultural differences aside there are some things that are just not acceptable.

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