Love this great new dinner-time game (via Marco Arment):
It works like this: as you arrive, each person places their phone facedown in the center of the table… As the meal goes on, you’ll hear various texts and emails arriving… and you’ll do absolutely nothing. You’ll face temptation—maybe even a few involuntary reaches toward the middle of the table—but you’ll be bound by the single, all-important rule of the phone stack.
Whoever picks up their phone is footing the bill.
I mentioned to a friend last week that I thought that those of us who didn’t grow up with cell phones and mobile computing devices are probably the worst at setting boundaries for temperate use of our tech. We lacked any formation in appropriate use as kids, and now we’ve gone overboard with our enthusiasm. We’re all trying to teach our kids good habits, but it often ends up “do as I say, not as I do.” Perhaps making a game out of good habit formation would help?