Warning: Don’t text and dine!  

Lock and Connect. 

Are cellphones dangerous to use while driving?!!!  Absolutely!!   Cell phones are also dangerous to use while dining! When you text and drive the harm is imminent. When you text and dine the harm is cumulative as it gradually erodes relationships.  

Today’s life is busy. For many families, dinner time is the only time of the day to reconnect. These moments are precious and should be cherished. Yet, instead of connecting with the closest people, right there at the dinner table, we choose to connect with people at the other end of the world.   

When we use a phone at the dinner table, we send the people next to us a message, “You are not important. I have more important people to connect with right now. I am not interested in your life. I have nothing to talk to you about.” Most importantly, our children learn from the examples we set.  Our conversation skills become their conversation skills. Our table manners become their table manners.   

Technology is a great tool to connect people. However, when being used at the wrong time and for the wrong purpose, it actually does the exact opposite – it disconnects people. When used at the dinner table it disrupts the flow of family time, becomes a distraction and source of conflict, causing ripples within the loving context of the family. Balancing technology use with our everyday lives is an ongoing struggle for many families, mine included.   

What is the solution? 

As a parent, partner, and parenting specialist, I have been looking for a creative way to put an end to digital distractions during family meals until I found an easy and fun solution that actually works – a key locking box  (We bought this box from Amazon - see picture below, but you can use any other container as long as it locks).

 We lock all our phones in the lockbox until dinner is over!   The kids are excited to be in charge of the locking procedure, including locking their own phones. Since we started using the box, we rediscovered the joy of peaceful, connected family dinners.  

If we don’t put a conscious effort into disconnecting from our phones during family meals, the disconnect in our families will grow to the point of no return. We will all become strangers to each other.  

The fix is quick and easy. Just lock and connect!