IKEA’s new table lets you cook with your smartphone

With the advent of the smartphone, using it at the dinner table (or any table for that matter) has become a norm. When you sit down, you whip out your phone. When the food comes, you whip it out to post a picture what you’re eating on social media. When you want to avoid awkward conversations with that family member you’re supposed to be close with but barely remember their name, you have to whip it out.

I think you get the gist.

It’s a bad habit but most of us are guilty of it. Dinner time should be about the food and the people you’re having it with — especially when it is a family dinner. So, IKEA decided enough was enough and came up with an inventive solution to this particular conundrum: They created a new….table?

Who would’ve thought of a smartphone-powered-steamboat-machine-table-thingamabob? I definitely didn’t. It sounds fantastic. While the table was definitely interesting, what’s equally interesting are the subjects’ responses.

When they sat down, the usual routine of whipping out the smartphone begins right up until the steamboat pot is placed on the fire. One eagle-eyed observer noticed that the soup wasn’t boiling and after some clarification, hit the button and raised the steamboat platform in a futuristic sci-fi manner.

Obviously, everyone started freaking out at how cool that was, but when the waiter told them to take out their phones the subjects thought it was to take pictures of the contraption. When they found out they had to place their devices into the base of the machine to power the steamboat, many were hesitant but eventually gave in to their tummies demands.

The result was pretty awesome. Everyone made a whole lot more eye contact and looking at each other’s faces rather than the Zuck’s Facebook. Conversation happened with their mouths as opposed to their thumbs. Smiles were exchanged without the need for round yellow emojis.

It was heartwarming, to say the least. We’re big fans of good tech and are always on our devices — for work and for play. But sometimes it’s better to just disconnect from your devices and reconnect with actual people and respond to them without needing a notification tone to prompt you.

Are you guys guilty of phubbing at the dinner table? Would you be interested in a table like this? Let us know in the comments below.

[SOURCE]