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Comment by chollida1 | Hacker News Reader

> In Steve Jobs' household, dinnertime was reserved for face-to-face conversation with his children — meaning no iPads or iPhones in sight.

I mean, not having phones at the diner table seems to be the norm. I'm sure there are some families who read their phones at the diner table but its certainly not the norm around my friend group.

> "I have times when I take away all my kids' phones, especially if we're on a family vacation, because I want people to interact with each other," said Wojcick. "So, I take away their phones and say: 'We're all going to focus on being present today.'"

Again, this seems to be by far the norm in my friend group. If you are spending a fortune to take your family on vacation, then we expect our kids to be present and enjoy the vacation. Play in the ocean, or the splash pads or rides at amusement parks.

These don't seem to be all that extreme and just normal parenting.

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I know of several families (the parents on both my side and my wife's side) where reading the newspaper over breakfast is normal. Only these days the newspaper is often a digital subscription on a tablet or phone.

It's another small step to browse social media (after all, that's how a lot of people get their news) in the same way, or over different meals than breakfast.

All in all, I share your observations, but I'm also not surprised if other people have to make that decision consciously.

Reading the newspaper at breakfast is an old TV trope. If TV is any indication it's socially acceptable to read things during the first meal of the day but not the latter ones.

It's not just a trope, because generally, in the 20th century, newspapers were delivered in the mornings. So reading while eating breakfast and seeing what is happening in the world before you started your day is what many people actually did.

This comment confuses me. The newspaper arrives early in the morning, before or around the time most people wake. It is traditionally read at the earliest opportunity, which is usually breakfast, as it can often inform the reader before they go about their day. For example, weather, or local or global events of note that may be socially relevant.

None of this is really true for other mediums. You can look at your phone wherever. It's not a shared resource for the household.

Where I grew up, the working class paper was delivered later in the day, and was traditionally read at/after dinner. On the other hand the prim bourgeoisie newspaper was delivered early in the morning and was traditionally read at breakfast. I thought that's how the blue collar / white collar divide was everywhere.

You're in a particular socioeconomic bubble. Not a bad thing, but it does mean that your circle's norm is not necessarily the norm amongst the population at large.

An example of how the other half lives (so to speak) is provided by people in restaurants who let their kid stay glued to a tablet watching YouTube or playing the Angry Birds du jour, often at blaring volume without headphones, while everybody else eats. Like TV, these tech toys provide easy, cheap babysitting.

I’ve preferred to read while I eat for almost 40 years, now. When I was a kid, I would even read the cereal box, I just needed to read something.

Yes, same. I was a bookworm as a kid, never found sports or video games very interesting but I loved to read. I do somewhat regret that my parents didn't push me out of my comfort zone esp. with sports because that became a big social limitation as I got older. But at the same time, I remember I really wanted nothing to do with it as a young child, so it might not have worked even if they tried.

> I take away their phones and say: 'We're all going to focus on being present today.

Thats all it takes?

That and some follow through. Kids learn their parents' weak spots quickly.

Phones are newfangled. My parents used to tease my dinner-time book-reading by making comparisons to Evelyn Waugh's Edward Ryder. (thus demonstrating they were not above a nip of the old hotmetal themselves?)

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