by Lisa Quattro

Created on: August 26, 2008

I can see banning cell phones in hospitals, the signal from the phone can actually interfere with some pace makers. We have bans against driving and using a hand held cell phone because most that do become distracted and dangerous. We even have unwritten bans against using cell phones in movie theaters and libraries because they distract others who come to these places to enjoy their respective benefits. All good things if you ask me, these rules are in force to keep ourselves and those around us safe and content. Good right?

To say we need to ban the use of cell phones in restaurants to me is about as restrictive as banning talking. As a patron of restaurants myself (everything from fine dining to fast food), I notice that a lot of times the other patrons who are not on cell phones are louder and more distracting than those who are. For example, while out with my husband at very nice steak house, we could basically hear every painfully awkward word of the couple next to us apparently on a first date. Was it distracting? Slightly. But, the only way to get rid of the distraction would also bar my husband and I from talking and remembering what we went through on our first dates.

None of us would prefer what a ban of cell phones would mean. If one can not talk on a cell phone, which is right by their mouth, during a meal, than why would they be allowed to talk to the person that is at least three feet away from them? Just to make it fair we would have to ban talking in restaurants all together, making it more of a library setting, a bit dull of you ask me. Many restaurants thrive on the excitement of conversations freely flowing. Frankly, if you need it to be that quiet for you to enjoy a meal, the alternative of take out or home delivery might be the better choice. Then the meal would come right to your door and you could sit there in you PJ's in the silence while your food digests.

I understand and agree that cell phone use is getting out of hand. There is nothing that irritates me more than standing in line at the grocery store only to have someone's phone go off and have them desperately search for it, only to breathlessly reply, "Not much how about you?" I personally would not go through the trouble. Same holds true if I am on a call and another comes in. I will not break up one conversation in order to postpone another by stating I am on the other line. Voice mail should be utilized in these situations.

Even though I have these rules for my own use of a cell phone, I can not control how others will use theirs. If one believes that we should enforce laws against cell phones in public places where noise is common, then one would have to be willing to be governed by the same laws. I am not. Therefore, I conclude with the idea that cell phones should not be banned in restaurants or any other public place where noise and socializing are common.

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