I recently heard that the restaurant Frankie & Benny's has introduced a phone ban in its UK branches. Parents are offered free meals for their children if they put their phones in a box in the middle of the table for the duration of the meal. It seems Frankie & Benny's are concerned about the extent to which mobile phones distract us from relating to each other.
A lot of people are becoming increasingly concerned about this. As awareness for the need for this kind of 'phones away' discipline is growing, phone ban boxes such as the one in the photo above are appearing on the scene in restaurants, cafes and people's own homes.
God made us to be in relationship with God and with each other. Across cultures and centuries, meal times have traditionally been an especially important time for putting distractions aside and connecting with each other. Even in the monastic tradition of silent meals together, the meal time is a time for connecting with God (and a deep connecting with each other in the silence).
You may be familiar with this icon of God the Creator, Son and Holy Spirit sitting round a table. Do you think they are talking? Or are they being attentive to each other in silence? It doesn't matter. The point is that they are being in relationship with each other and paying attention to each other. How often do we see people these days sitting round a table with no phones or TV in sight?
Talking meals with others are a very important time to connect with each other and give each other full attention.
Meals on our own can be an equally powerful time to connect with God both by talking to God silently in our hearts and by listening to God in the silence while we eat.
If you were to visit a convent or monastery or retreat house you would likely encounter silent meals together. Eating in silence together has a doubly powerful effect of making us more attentive to each other and bringing us closer to each other somehow, and also giving us space to talk and listen to God in the silence.
How do you use your meal times?
Is there a place for a Frankie & Benny type box in your own life or home?
Is there a need in your life for a phone/TV/laptop/reading material ban when you eat on your own so that you can use the meal time to connect better with God?