It’s a Saturday morning and I’m balancing on the back legs of my fancy cushioned chair at Sue’s Gallery Cafe. My friend, senior Marcus Kuo, stares and tries not to laugh as I extend the agonizingly short charging cable toward the wall. 

It’s no use — I won’t be able to use my laptop today. I sigh in resignation and bundle up the cord before pulling out my notebook. Two hours later, I walk out of the cafe having completed all of my AP Literature homework for the next week and none of my Biology homework due Monday. 

That got me thinking — what really is the point of this? Why do I intentionally inconvenience myself, traveling 10 minutes by car and limiting my computer time to its battery life of 42 minutes, just to study at an overpriced cafe like some tropey movie character? 

The most convincing reason I can think of is the illusion of productivity. Something about the delicately placed pottery and warm natural light inside the coffee shop sings “I am getting work done” even as one is reading over the same math question six times or watching potential couples laugh awkwardly at the next table. Do I blink that much when I’m talking?

Also, wasn’t there some research that said working together increases brain activity and open-mindedness? I guess there is some evidence for collaborative improvement — Marcus can ask me questions about AP Computer Science, a class I took three years ago, and I can complain periodically about college essays I’ve procrastinated on. 

Another thing: If you actually like the people you’re studying with, you might (unfortunately) end up chatting the entire time until the genuinely productive people nearby side-eye you into guilty silence. The problem is that even when I’m studying at home, I take a while to settle into my groove, reorganizing desk accessories or compulsively refreshing Twitter. Studying with friends in a cafe is 10 times worse with all the activity and distractions. 

But honestly, I’m being too negative. Study sessions with friends are meant to be more of a bonding experience anyway, and I shouldn’t expect to “grind” when friends have me constantly laughing at their antics as we complain about the drudgery of schoolwork. Even though I continually come to the conclusion that these sessions are unproductive, I’ll take up an offer any day to meet a friend at a cafe for a couple of hours. 

I may not get much done, but we’ll get some good food out of it, at the very least.