Put the phone in another room for one evening
Not on the table face down. In a different room, where reaching it is a decision.
The BeingKind editorsPublished How this is written
Why it lands
A phone within arm's reach changes a conversation even when nobody touches it, because both people know the attention is provisional. Face down on the table is not enough — the gesture is legible and the interruption is still one glance away. Moving it out of the room removes the option, and the difference in how a whole evening goes is out of all proportion to the effort. Most households have not had an uninterrupted evening in years and have stopped noticing.
How
Say you are doing it, so it reads as attention rather than sulking. Both phones, one room, one evening. Do not announce it as a new rule or a reform of anybody's habits — once, this evening, is the entire proposal.
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