What is your personal philosophy about people using phones at the table, including keeping their phones on the table at mealtime?

It bothers me and I think it’s rude.

I don’t like it. No sir, not one bit.

Just this week, we went out for a big family dinner. As we were getting out of my car (6 of us), I said, “No cell phones. Leave ‘em in the car. We’re gonna talk like humans”.

When I was a kid we weren’t allowed to have anything at mealtime that would distract us from its purpose: dining and discourse. Well, it’s a different world now and everyone has a cellphone. I don’t like it, but I’m tired of raging against it. And the fact is, for many people, being on call is important, if not a necessity.

But I agree with others than it’s rude to use it at the table, whether at home or in a restaurant.

My personal rule is to leave my phone on vibrate when dining with anyone and not to look at it unless it vibes. I then quickly check it to decide whether to let voicemail take the call or to take it immediately. If the latter, which is rarely the case, I excuse myself and make my absence as brief as possible. And of course I apologize when I return.

For me, this is a practical rule of contemporary etiquette.

I say let them eat their food in another room by themselves.

I am totally opposed. I think it is totally rude.

That wouldn’t actually bother me much, I’m not real strong on manners and etiquette. You know, as long as you don’t barf all over the kitchen table or whatever.

However, I am slightly biased against smartphones. I mean, it’s like people can’t even fucking do anything without them anymore. They’re always fingering it, checking shit out. Gets on my fucking tits when a friend comes over, hangs out on my couch for three hours and never speaks to me and just plays with her damn phone. It’s like, get the fuck out, then.

I think it is rude. I can understand if someone is on-call. I have wireless devices for my convenience, not that my callers. The obvious exception is family emergencies, or if I were to find myself in a situation that required me to be on-call. I would handle it just like @Pachyderm_In_The_Room does. I also would try to arrange my “on-call” schedule so as not to interfere with the dinner, meal, or whatever.

I’m not bothered by this at all, depending on the situation. I personally have my phone on the table most of the time, but it’s become habit out of being on call for work.

I’m not really a fan, but growing up in this era, I guess I’ve gotten used to it. The worst thing is when I’m talking to someone and they start messing around with their phone. I never got used to that.

One of my pet peeves is a customer in a check-out line. Can’t seem to suspend the phone conversation for 10 seconds to take care of business!

Unless you’re a doctor, or your wife is expecting a baby or you are in some other situation where you are expecting an emergency call, and that should be explained in advance to your table mates, then the phone should be silenced, that’s why God invented voice mail.

It’s awful to go out with a friend, who you haven’t seen in a long time, because you’re both so busy, and then right when you are getting to the crux of your story, their phone rings and they say, “Sorry, I gotta take this” and then minutes later, you get no apology, you find out it was something that could have waited, and the moment has passed. So you start again, and then the phone rings again, and so on and so forth.

I finally had to “break up” with a friend, because she continued to let this happen.

My friends are used to my random interruptions for calls. I work in the medical industry… there’s really nothing I can do when I’m on call except to answer it. They laugh about it now, actually.

It does bother me. I just think it’s rude. It gives off the impression that the person would rather be somewhere else, than in one’s company. My dad absolutely does not allow phones out at mealtimes. I’m seventeen, but I’m admittedly a bit old-fashioned and my phone is nowhere to be seen at mealtimes. My uncle, who’s nearing fifty, has his on the table in plain view, and doesn’t hesitate to answer a text straight away. It really does irritate me.

Doesn’t bother me. My phone always sits on the table in a restaurant or wherever I eat. I don’t carry a purse or wear pants loose enough to carry an iPhone in the pocket, so it goes on the table. I’m 23, most people my age keep their phones close, so I don’t think anything of it.

Now, if I’m talking to someone and they’re texting, I find that very rude. I don’t answer my phone or text while eating with other people, and I expect the same in return.

I don’t get how having a phone sitting unattended at the dinner table is rude. That makes no sense to me.

I don’t get how having a phone sitting unattended at the dinner table is rude. That makes no sense to me.

I think the idea here is talking about if the phone is being attended to while eating.

My philosophy is NO.

Actually, I frequently put my phone on the table at mealtimes, but only so that I know I have it when I leave the table. I turn it off first.

This question reminded me of the current Facebook Home commercial. I couldn’t believe the commercial when I saw it. ugh

@jonsblond If I had a family member like that, I might be on my phone too. Anything to distract myself from the strong urge to slit my wrists.

I was really amused at a family dinner a couple of years ago. The young people at the table were conversing with each other by text while the adults talked.

My husband is on call 24 hours a day, so he has his phone connected to his ear.

It depends on the context. Sometimes it’s rude, sometime it’s not.

It depends. If it’s dinner with parents, the people that are usually more traditional, then no. If it’s with my friends in my own apartment, I don’t care.

I personally prefer to eat with a knife and fork but to each his own.

I don’t care if someone has the phone sitting on the table. Beyond that, if I’m at work and having a coffee break and someone has to check who’s calling while with me, that doesn’t bother me. We’re still at work and ‘on duty’. If it’s an important call, I’m okay with them stepping out to take it.

If we are having lunch or dinner, then I think the phone should be off or not answered.

Never understood this anal attitude with etiquette at the dinner table, use the correct cutlery/don’t speak with your mouth full/elbows off the table/ask to be excused when leaving/no farting or belching/don’t give the ladies a quick reach around under the table…just fucking eat your tuck & get bastard on with it, ahem…I don’t mine phones at mealtimes, not at all, you may even scoop up your dessert with it if you wish.

@ucme I definitely agree with you on cutlery, elbows, and excusing oneself from the table. I’ve never known anyone that was that stuffy, and I’m thankful for that.

I’d have to draw the line at farting, though. And I can’t stand when people smack as they eat – not because it’s rude, but because it’s an annoying sound.

In most cases, I say fuck etiquette. Unless I’m at a business dinner or some formal event, who gives a hoot? I mean, as long as you’re not acting like a wild animal, I don’t care what fork you use.

I don’t care. At work, cell phones are used just as much as regular phones. Cellphones are not an issue. I’d say they are actually a nice tool.

You know, really, I don’t care one bit. There are a myriad of reasons to have your phone out. I’m no judge.

Having said that, talking on the phone for more than a minute while you are with someone is just rude, but no more rude than when 2 people hold a conversation while they are with a third person.

I just find it pathetic that people cannot be untethered for a few hours. How did the species ever survive PCP pre-cell-phone

@livelaughlove21 Yeah, farting went a bit far, must have had a fan on. It’s so fucking snobbish the way people feel they need to behave at the dinner table though, eat, interact, enjoy but above all…relax man!!

Dinner at a nice restaurant, no phone. Lunch in a cafe, or any other time, who cares! Gotta make a living and for me, that is what the phone is for. Well that and playing games.

Elephants don’t need wireless devices. They use trunk lines.

trunk lines, hehehehe, good one!

Thanks, @rooeytoo!

When I meet other pachyderms for a peanutfest we all have elephones.

Obnoxious! However I’m in a restaurant alone typing this! So also handy!

@Pachyderm_In_The_Room – you’re on a roll!