A British pub owner disabled cell phones inside his bar because he thinks social media is ruining the pub business. The Gin Tub in Brighton has a Faraday cage built into the ceiling to make mobile reception impossible so patrons will actually interact with each other instead of looking at their phones, which they could have just done at home. Source
…Wow way to over-react. “I’m tired of people checking their phones so I’m just going to install a faraday cage.”
What if they have a family emergency? What if they’re arranging for friends to meet them at the pub? What if something happens in the pub and people need to call for emergency services, but they can’t?
This dude did not stop to think beyond being a completely kneejerk neophobe.
Dude, it’s an choice to go there for the atmosphere
We have ‘escape rooms’ here where you PAY to be locked in a room for an hour and try to get out
We have pools and saunas where you can’t use your phone either
Dead zones, or twilight zones as some people are calling them, are easily stepped out of to check back in on the world
That’s not the reason he installed the faraday cage.
And in any event, I don’t agree with mandatory phone-free environments unless it is for a legitimate purpose (eg information security or making sure the medical equipment in a hospital can operate without interference). Phones are an extension of the notions of Freedom of Assembly and Freedom of Association.
People who are so distracted by their phones that they need mandatory phone-free atmospheres to relax should just learn some self control instead of imposing their hangups on everyone else.