Field Notes on No Laptop Dinner
A dinner has been scheduled without devices. The dinner is tonight. The laptop is on the table.
Progress Report: No Laptop Dinner Field Observations, July 2022
Background
Two weeks ago, the subject and one other person agreed to have a dinner without devices. The agreement was specific: phones face down, laptop closed, television off. The dinner was described as an opportunity to have a full conversation without the management overhead of ambient digital presence.
The dinner is tonight. Progress is being assessed at intervals.
6:47 PM
Dinner preparation is underway. The laptop is on the kitchen table. The laptop is open. The subject is checking one thing before dinner begins, which is a phrase that has a documented history of expanding.
7:12 PM
Dinner is on the table. The laptop has been moved from the open position to the closed position. The laptop remains on the table. The phone is face down near the laptop.
The no laptop dinner is in progress. The laptop is present. These facts are compatible because the laptop has not been opened.
7:23 PM
The conversation is underway. The conversation is good. The subject has had two thoughts that would benefit from a quick lookup.
Neither lookup has been performed. The thoughts have been noted mentally for later retrieval. One thought is about a restaurant that was mentioned. The other thought is about a film.
7:41 PM
The phone has been checked once. The check was brief. The check was flagged by the other party, who noted that checks are prohibited under the agreement. The subject acknowledged this and replaced the phone face down.
The laptop was not opened. This is being recorded as compliance on the primary variable.
7:58 PM
The subject has realized that not knowing the answer to the restaurant question has made the restaurant question more prominent in the conversation than it would have been if looked up at 7:23. The not-knowing has become a topic. The topic has consumed approximately four minutes.
The lookup would have taken twelve seconds.
The Governing Rule
The laptop was placed on the table as a transitional object and has remained there as a statement of intent that neither party has yet converted into action by removing it to another room, because removing it would require commitment to the agreement at a level that the table position does not require.
The laptop on the table is a deferral strategy. It is working.
8:19 PM
Dinner is complete. The laptop was not opened during dinner. The phone was checked once. The restaurant has not been looked up.
The subject will look up the restaurant after this report is filed.
Assessment
Partial compliance. Primary variable met. Secondary variable one violation. The dinner was good. The conversation was complete.
The laptop is being moved to the other room now, post-dinner. This does not count for this dinner but sets a precedent for the next one.