Should phones be allowed at the table in restaurants?

When you go out for a meal with your family, how many people are on their phones?

Well, a group of restaurants on the Italian island of Sardinia are banning families from using smartphones, tablets or other devices, as part of a scheme to put "family time back into mealtimes" by encouraging conversation.

The 'screen-free dining' trial, which has been created by the island's ombudsman for children, will take place over a month at 15 restaurants.

Do you think screens should be banned at restaurants? And what's it like in your family?

Let us know in the comments below...

In the UK, guidance issued by four chief medical officers in 2019 said families should ban phones from the dinner table because talking was important for development.

And, last year research found that phones were regularly used by both parents and children during dinner.

More than three in four families (77%) said they eat with their phones at the table, and one in four said they don't chat at dinner anymore.

In Sardinia, parents and their children will be required to put their phones away when dining at any of the 15 restaurants that have volunteered to participate in the scheme during a one-month pilot exercise beginning next week.

Families that hand in their devices are then given a kit with games and activities for children as well as advice on social media use.

The kit is aimed at helping children start conversations with their parents, such as sharing stories about their day.

Emanuele Frongia, president of the federation on the island, said:

"Restaurants play a vital role in fostering the intimacy that families rediscover when they dine out," said Frongia. "Yet we increasingly observe that during these moments lively chatter is replaced with stretches of silence as people look at their devices. Often a child is handed one to keep them quiet."

Do you think phones should be allowed at the table at mealtimes? What's it like in your family? Let us know in the comments below...