When we asked you about the changing norms for smartphone use in public spaces, hundreds of stories poured in. (Thank you!) One notable subset of responses came from restaurant servers and bartenders, who reported incidents of standing over diners, literally waiting to serve expensive dishes because the customers were too enraptured by glowing devices to notice them.
So what are the right rules for smartphones at mealtime?
In the always-connected power center of Washington, D.C., servers at The Red Hen restaurant — just 2 miles north of the U.S. Capitol — say at least half their customers use smartphones while dining with other people.
"Two people [were] sitting at this table and I think they're on a date," says Dani Farr, a server at the Red Hen. "The gentleman, throughout the entire meal did not acknowledge me. He had no questions about the menu. She did all the ordering and never once looked up at me. And I'm like, I'm here for you, I want to talk to you, I want to engage. But you won't even look up at me. What are you doing? Why are you here?"
How we're changed by our devices is a question psychologist Thomas Plante, a professor at Santa Clara University, has been studying.
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