New app challenges you to put your phone down during a meal

WINNIPEG — Just like a set of cutlery, a cell phone on the table at a restaurant has become a common sight. Putting your phone down for a meal is known to be proper etiquette but servers say good manners aren’t being used.

“Everyone sits down and their phone is on the table beside them and they’re constantly looking at it,” Jerrit Visser, manager at Stella’s on Sherbrook Street said.

A new app is putting people to the test. Dinner Mode asks the user to set a timer of how long they’ll be sitting at the table. The app then prompts you to turn your phone face down. If you can get through the meal without checking those text messages, then you are congratulated and asked if you want to share the results on social media.

Staff in the service industry said that when customers use a cell phone during their meal there are extra challenges for the servers.

“Usually when I’m serving and approaching a table I take the glass off because I don’t want to spill on their couple hundred dollar phone,” Benjamin Nasberg, manager at Carbone Coal Fired Pizza said.

Another restaurant manager said it can make it difficult to know when to approach the customer.

“It also deters the servers from coming to the table, because they see your nose down in your phone. And they don’t want to interrupt you,” Visser said.