We use technology to speed up our lives, but does it end up slowing us down instead? We have coffee machines programmed to turn on when we wake up, apps to find the quickest route to our destination, email so we can quickly communicate with the world, etc…We use all of this with the assumption that it’s making our lives faster, but I read an article this week that challenged that notion in an unexpected way.

It Started With a Picture…

This week, we celebrated our anniversary dinner at a trendy restaurant. When the delicious food showed up, I did what any self-respecting restaurant patron would do…I took out my iPhone and snapped a picture. After all, in two years how would I remember that I ordered a scrumptious kale salad if I didn’t take a picture of it? My husband chuckled and sent me the following article: Slow Service Demystified

The nutshell version of this article is that an NYC restaurant was getting complaints about slow service, so they checked surveillance footage to see what was going on and it turns out, the customers were wasting time and distracted with their phones, which stretched out their dining time.

My Own Observations

Now, I’m not one to believe everything I read on the Internet, so who knows if this situation actually happened, but it has made me do a double-take at restaurants. True or not, I’ve noticed that my use of a phone does significantly lengthen my dining time, and not in a relaxing meaningful way, but rather in a distracted way.

I take my phone out to snap a picture…and then notice that I have an email…and then I want to check in on Facebook…and then check my phone a few times to see if anyone has commented on my check-in…and then notice an article on my USA Today app that I haven’t read…and pretty soon my food is here and I hadn’t even noticed.

I Promise!

If I’m going to linger at dinner, I want it to be because I’m enjoying good food and company, not because their WiFi is slow. So, I’m making a vow to start enjoying food and stop making my cell phone a permanent place setting. I encourage you to do the same!

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