Could You Make It Through an Entire Meal At a Restaurant With Your Phone Off?

One of my big hot button issues are the people who are incapable of enjoying a meal out at their favorite restaurant without being on their phone. My favorite is when they take a picture of their meal and immediately post it on their Facebook page or Instagram...why, why, why? What if you could receive a discount for keeping your phone off? There is a restaurant in Beirut, Bedivere Eatery & Tavern that is now offering a 10% discount if you check your phone at the front counter. I realize this restaurant is in Beirut, but its a start and it will be interesting to see how widespread this becomes, if at all.

While the discount is a great incentive to leave your phone off, the bigger question is why it takes a discount to make people do something they should already be doing? My wife and I were out last night and could not believe how many tables had people that all had their faces buried in their phones. Nobody was talking or interacting.

In fairness, most of the people on their phones were not doing anything to disturb other customers, except for the guy laughing hysterically at a picture of a pug dressed in a Halloween costume that he was showing everybody at the table.

I don't know about you, but when I'm in a restaurant, I like to appreciate the experience of the meal, the ambiance of the restaurant and most important, who I'm sharing the experience with. What is disturbing is the constant sound of ringtones and the echo of a vibrating phone on a tabletop.

Again, I think a no-phone discount in a restaurant is great idea and would no doubt be very effective. For the record, I would not be in favor of a no-phone POLICY in restaurants as a requirement to even get a table, because you might have a really good reason for needing your phone with you for an important call or message you could not afford to miss, I get that.

I always leave my phone in the car while in a restaurant, but some just can't do it without their stress level shooting up 100 points...can you?