"I would never say, 'never be on your phone' or that I'm anti-phone,"
"The bottom line with etiquette is how can I make the other person feel valued and comfortable in my presence?"
"Anytime I'm about to enter somewhere new, the first thing I do is take my headphones off and put them away, and I put my phone away,"
"If you wouldn't take a book out to read at that time, would you also take your phone out?"
Devices generally do not belong on restaurant tables, with narrow exceptions for business meetings and solo meals. Phones are a large part of contemporary life, so absolute bans are impractical. The core etiquette principle is to make others feel valued and comfortable in one's presence. Restaurant practices like tabletop QR codes encourage immediate phone use, increasing the temptation to keep devices visible. Forming habits of putting devices away upon entering a space and silencing smart watches reduces distractions. After using a phone to check a menu or snap a quick photo, make a point to put it away, especially when servers approach. A useful prompt is whether one would read a book at that moment; if not, avoid taking out a phone.
Read at Bon Appetit
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]