Can you turn on Airplane Mode during lunch?

I mean, in those times when we actually make time for lunch: How often do we have it without a screen?

Let me tell you a too familiar story.

A few years ago, my wife was taking English lessons in order to be more confident and conversational in our US travels. This one time, we went out for dinner with her classmates, a unique opportunity to chat with them in a social setting and in our native language.

We got some beers and talked about our families for a bit, and dealt a bit with that awkwardness you get when you're getting to know people and you don't know what to talk about.

Pretty soon though, Andy (not his real name) got their phone to check whether he had any messages on Whatsapp. Brenda (not her name) then got a message and started a texting conversation with the person on the other side of her phone, whoever that was – she was smiling, seemed like a fun conversation.

With two of us already on our phones, most of the others pulled their phones to check what was going on in Facebook. Mostly browsing pictures and videos.

The table went from lively to quiet. My wife and I exchanged some glances and a little smirk. We just kept focused on the band playing until people got their fix.

It was an unusual experience for us, but not unusual in general. I often see people in restaurants focused on their phones rather than their food or each other.

Radishes and cookies

In the book Willpower, Roy Baummeister talks about an experiment where he asked college students who were fasting to sit at a table with freshly baked chocolate chip cookies and radishes.

Some students could eat the cookies, some only the radishes. Here's how he describes their temptation resistance.

The ones in the radish condition clearly struggled with the temptation. Many gazed longingly at the cookies before settling down to bite reluctantly into a radish. Some of them picked up a cookie and smelled it, savoring the pleasure of freshly baked chocolate. A couple accidentally dropped a cookie on the floor and then hastened to put it back in the bowl so no one would know of their flirtation with sin.

Baumeister, Roy F.,John Tierney. Willpower: Rediscovering the Greatest Human Strength (p. 22). Penguin Books. Kindle Edition.

In fact the cookies not only distracted them but also made them more easily give up on the assignment they were given afterwards.

Having our phones handy when we don't want it to distract us is like keeping a bowl of freshly baked chocolate chip cookies when we intend to eat radishes.

The solution is not to resist better, toughen up. Just get rid of the cookies.

So try it out. Next time you're having lunch, turn airplane mode on.