“Where laughter and life flow like music.” Strolling past the Merchant Square last Friday night, these words greeted me from a sandwich board outside one of the chain pubs there. I was moved to laugh out loud, but not in the way I would laugh at one of those funny or knowingly clever sandwich boards about beer or coffee (Finnieston sandwich merchant Piece is the master of these, by the way). I was cringing hard at this cynical slogan and its attempts to wring some kind of positive sentiment out of its pub’s soulless product: a corporate marketing team’s idea of what fun should be.

As fate would have it, I was on my way to Mono: an independent bar, arts space, gig venue, vegan café and record store that is the antithesis of the modern, corporate pub experience. And it is all the better for it.

There’s something about this place that inspires reverence and devotion among indie types. It’s in the air: a community spirit among the artists, musicians, writers and assorted weirdos that hang about here that is a joy to behold. For some of the city’s indie veterans, life pretty centres around Mono: it’s a place to hang out, eat, shop, and spend entire weekends kicking back, listening to and discovering new music. The weird, rounded dome ceiling creates an atmosphere like nowhere else and at night, with the place bustling and a roll-call of outstanding indie bands on the stereo, it is hard to find anywhere better.

Q: What piece of technology could you definitely live without?

1. David Stinton, 28, Queen’s Park, “Smart watches - everything they do can be done on a mobile phone.”

Dominika Severyniuk, 32, Woodlands, “Cloud storage - it kind of terrifies me to trust all my stuff to someone else.”

Aidan Ford, 26, Woodlands, “GCHQ, because I value my privacy.”

2. Victor Hughes, 33, West End, “An iron – I never use one.”

Emma Prowse, 33, West End, “Fitbits. We should know ourselves well enough to exercise sensibly without them.”

3. Leah Brooklyn, 22, Kirkintilloch, “Facebook: it’s so full of negative energy. It makes you unhappy.”

Moya Wren, 48, Kirkintilloch, “A mobile phone. You’d get some privacy without one.”

Madison Wren-Campbelll, 18, Kirkintilloch, “Television. It just brainwashes you.”

4. Scott Clark, 25, Edinburgh, “iPads. So unnecessary.”

Sean Catlin, 24, Gorbals, “QR Codes. Nobody in living memory has ever scanned one.”

5. Adam Wright, 27, Cessnock, “Shoelaces. What an outdated technology.”

Shona Rawlings, 28, Shawlands, “Toasters. It’s easy enough to use the grill.”

6. Shu Wei, 22, City Centre, “Nuclear weapons. They have nothing but disadvantages.”

Cynthia Chan, 39, City Centre, “Microwaves. They don’t cook food, they zap it.”

7. Jason Bond, 29, Hebrides, “Netflix. It isolates you.”

8. Steph Le Batteur, 47, Dennistoun, “Drum machines. I’m a drummer and I much prefer the sound of real drums.”

9. Osh Kealy, 27, Dennistoun, “Buttons. I used to have a phobia of them.”

Clubber of the Week

10. Emily McQueen, 29, Glasgow

Favourite Club? Sleazy’s

Favourite Bar? Stravaigin

Favourite DJ? Toast

Favourite Band? Fleetwood Mac

What You Drinking? Gin & Tonic

First Club? Waterfront, in Norwich.

Describe Your Dancing? Fun and stupid.