PHONE-LESS MEAL, QUALITY CONVERSATION

How can less use of mobile phones during mealtime stop deterioration of mutual relationships among Thai people?

Mobile phones seem to have become an extension of humans in the present era. In Thailand, mobile phone use in restaurants is now a common sight that threatens the relationship among people having meals together as it redirects the attention of the user to the device and the person on the other end, instead of the people physically present at the table.

“You’re physical here, but mentally you aren’t…”

At the restaurant, people using mobile phones are now a common sight. We may not realise it, but this could be threatening the relationship among people having meals together.

The result? FRUSTRATION. BOREDOM. ANGER. AND LONELINESS. Just because we pay more attention to the invisible members of the meal, rather than the actual people at the table.

“NO-MORE-PHONE MEALS”

The intervention was designed to seek out a way to lessen this behaviour by preventing people from using their mobile phones during mealtimes by highlighting mobile phone use as a nuisance, with the help of a device that signals the use to other occupants at the table. These occupants will pressure the user to stop and return their attention to the meal and the people. With less interruption from mobile phones, people can fully focus on enjoying their meal and bonding with their peers.

The final testing results showed that the device was effective in helping reduce mobile phone addiction at mealtimes among the Thai participants. Whenever mobile phone owners took their phone away from the box, that machine was simultaneously vibrating at such a high level that his/her peers realized such entirely unnecessary phone use. Due to the social pressure, the violator of the social norm — i.e. one who futilely picks up mobile phones eventually returned the phone onto the device to stop disruption.