Like an analogue world-munching Pac-Man, the modern smartphone has morphed into instant messenger, mailbox, camera, flashlight, computer, map, dictionary, newspaper, personal assistant and social media portal.
And as such its use at the table has become so prevalent that “restaurants are now forced to incorporate how to deal with them into the sequence of service and table maintenance,” says Eric Rosenfeld, the general manager of the lush trattoria Il Covo, in Los Angeles, which has begun offering diners small plates to hold their phones in order to shield them from potential spills and dinner debris.
Some fine dining restaurants frown upon mobile phone use – at Patina, the menu requests, “This restaurant is a quiet haven from the stress and tumult of everyday life. Please help us by turning your cell phone to vibrate while dining.” And a few places, such as Sushi Nozawa, go as far as to post “no cellphone” signs.