@drrupawong: It’s never a ban. It’s always a habit they built at home first. The families whose kids don’t reach for their phones at restaurants didn’t confiscate devices or set up parental controls at the table. They built one consistent rule at home — and the restaurant behavior followed naturally. Kids do better when the expectation is predictable. When dinner without a screen is just what dinner is, they stop negotiating it everywhere else too. In our house, the dinner table has been screen-free since our kids were small. Not because my husband and I sat down and wrote a policy — but because two eye doctors who spend their days watching what screens do to developing eyes were never going to let dinner become another hour of near work. It became non-negotiable without ever really being a fight. The video you’re watching is an exception, not the rule. My son was on a WebEx for his school yearbook — he’s the senior copy editor, we were traveling six hours ahead of our usual time zone, and the call couldn’t move. My daughter’s reaction in the video tells you everything about how unusual that was for us. The dinner table is the easiest place to start. It’s 20 minutes. It’s already built into the day. And it’s the one habit that tends to travel. Comment RULES and I’ll send you my free Eye-Healthy Screen Rules guide — including exactly how we handle device-free zones at home.

Rupa Wong M.D.

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Wednesday 01 July 2026 01:14:45 GMT