Chef Tim Love is onto something with his new restaurant’s cellphone ban

Smartphone use is ubiquitous — and why not? It’s convenient, useful, and connective: a phone, a computer, and a portal into a multi-verse of worlds like Twitter, Instagram, YouTube and Snapchat.

Still, one guy is standing athwart this trend by requiring patrons at his new Italian restaurant, Caterina, to confine their phones to the silence of a locked pouch. He might be onto something.

Fort Worth celebrity chef Tim Love is definitely making a statement about the incredible experience he’s offering through food at his new place: One so ethereal it must not be interrupted or cataloged via such pedestrian means as an iPhone. Paper City reported that the restaurant, which opened July 27, is “super-intimate,” seating only 40 total in the white tablecloth dining room; the bar seats just six.

“Tables talking to tables — [patrons] making new friends — the vibe is so great,” he told my colleague Bud Kennedy.

Love’s not the only businessman to ban phones at his establishment. Concerts and comedy clubs have been doing this for awhile. Even if the tickets to the show are on the phone, staff still request patrons show them the ticket code, then they tuck it away where it’s not just “out of pocket” but literally locked out of sight. Often, guests can retrieve their phone and retreat to a special room just for phone use, if an emergency arises.

A meal or a concert or comedy sketch — a whole three to four hours at most — without one’s smartphone sounds either idyllic or stressful, depending on the person, with a particular divide by age. Phone separation anxiety, or nomophobia, is actually a real thing, although the term has only been around for 10 years, and half of American adults have it.

Who hasn’t been caught in an unknown city or even just out running errands with the dreaded 5% battery left? God forbid your phone breaks, has water damage or gets lost. That 24 hours between lost and found or replaced might feel like an eternity filled with torture.

But it wasn’t long ago that people did go out to dinner or concerts or even on vacation without something that allowed them to connect to the rest of the world and the people they’d left behind. I’m not one to always hark back to days of yore — I like air conditioning, vehicles, and deodorant — but unlike other advancements, the smartphone has presented a unique double-edged sword. I mean, what’s the downside to air conditioning?

Of course, the smartphone allows for instant knowledge, immediate mapping, 24/7 connection with friends and constant surveillance of others through social media, but there are disadvantages to being hyper-connected.

Seeing the world through the “eyes” of a smartphone simulates connectivity to fictional worlds. Adults know this, but we indulge anyway. From immaculate homes to flawless-looking women, Instagram and its filters have turned people’s lives into a kaleidoscope of colors and shapes — pretty but vapid, all an illusion.

Obsessive smartphone use simulates connectivity to people, yet adults — and worse, teens — are more lonely and depressed than ever. It’s also, as my colleague Ryan Rusak has noted, like carrying an unrelenting doomsday machine you can carry around. We’re not meant to be constantly connected to bad news.

Smartphones also constantly take people away from the present. If you’re texting someone, you’re ignoring the person sitting next to you. You’re playing a game online but you’re not interacting with your family in the room. I can’t count how many times I’ve been on the phone with someone and they’ll stop a conversation to check their notifications. I probably do it myself without realizing it.

Of all these, it seems like not being present — whether it’s at a business meeting or playing checkers with your kids, or at Tim Love’s newest restaurant — might cost the most because it robs you of your experience to savor the present and the gratitude of living completely in that moment.

Now, without a phone nearby, you’ll be forced to smell the aroma of an incredible meal as it arrives. You’ll look across the table and once again appreciate the color of the eyes of the person you love. And later you’ll tell others about it.

True foodies adore restaurants like Love’s because incredible food and drink is a gateway to an experience of a lifetime with people you love. Memories last forever and Instagram can wait.

Correction: An earlier version of the story said Caterina had not opened yet. It opened July 27.