Table Manners 2.0

The modern dinner table has been colonized. Not by diners, but by their phones, their tripods, their followers.

You’ve seen it: the table cleared not for food but for gear. Ring lights casting a ghostly glow over plates that are cooling by the second. The clatter of chairs as someone climbs on one for the perfect overhead shot. Friends told to pause mid-bite while someone frames the “perfect” pour of sauce.

Restaurants didn’t agree to this — they just woke up one day and realized half their dining room had turned into a content studio.

This isn’t about nostalgia for the days of no cameras. Photography has always been part of food culture. But what we have now is performance, not memory. People stage dining experiences for an invisible audience, narrating to strangers rather than engaging with the humans at the table. The meal becomes a backdrop for a brand.

Maybe it’s time for a new etiquette — a Table Manners 2.0 — one that acknowledges reality but sets some boundaries. Snap a photo, sure. Post a story, fine. But if you’re blocking a server’s path, if you’re holding up an entire course, if you’re shining a light so bright that it makes the whole room feel like an interrogation scene, you’ve crossed the line.

Dining is supposed to be shared, not broadcast. Maybe the most radical thing you can do in 2025 is put the phone down and actually eat.