In the 1980s and 90s, people smoked in restaurants while the rest of us were eating. Then we made a change. We literally changed a global culture, made new rules, and people (fairly) quickly changed their habits.
We could do that again in public spaces – banning phones. Why not?
Watch this week’s ThrowFoward Thursday to hear more…
TRANSCRIPT
Here’s a thought experiment for you. What if we treated spending time on your smartphone at a restaurant the same way we currently treat smoking? In other words, you’re not allowed to do it, you’re not allowed to smoke in the restaurant, if you want to smoke, you have to step outside.
Back in the 1980s and 90s, we would have thought it was crazy to say that we’re just going to kick the smokers outside. They’re not going to be allowed to smoke indoors anymore. We would have said, “That’s not possible.”
We might have said, that would be nice. You know, smoking in a restaurant is a bit of a filthy habit. Apologies to those of you who smoke, you know, but would it be possible to change the entire planet’s culture and kick the smokers out?
Well, we did it, and I think everybody, including the smokers, understands that there was a reason to do it, and it was good and it’s fine and it works.
So what happens if we just start to do that with smartphones? I’m not saying that smartphones are as damaging to your health as smoking, although the data is beginning to indicate that those of us who might be addicted to our phones might have to think in those ways.
But we know that it can be damaging to our social connections and damaging to the relational connections we’re trying to build with other people. I’m not saying it’s always that way, and I’m not judging people who use their phones in good ways, and I’m not saying you should never have your phone open while you are eating at a restaurant with friends. I’m not going over the top.
But I can imagine a restaurant that says, in our restaurant, you put your phones in a box when you enter the door, and if you want to go and check them, you have to take your phone out of the box, go outside the restaurant, and do it, and put your phone back in the box when you come in.
I certainly think that some restaurants should experiment with this and see whether people actually appreciate. Might sound crazy, but then we’ve done crazy things before, and it worked out nicely.
What if? Why not? Let’s think about it and, well, if you’re a restaurant owner and you plan to do this, drop me a line, I’ll sign up, I’ll come and eat it at your restaurant. I think this is a worthy experiment, and maybe, maybe you can do it as a family, and maybe you can even do it for some of the meetings that you have with your teams.
Anyway, imagine a future where there are certain spaces and places that are cellphone-free.
ThrowForward Thursday, as always, thank you for joining me in the future and thinking about how things might be different, what we could do about it today.
I’ll see you again next week.
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