Is Banning Cell Phones Bad for Business?

Bartenders see it all the time: a customer who spends more time with their phone than with their friends. Social media has become such an integral part of life — and a marketing strategy — that most bars are hesitant to ban smartphones altogether. But excessive phone use can turn a warm and friendly gathering place into a cold and lifeless business, motivating many bars to restrict how and when customers can use their phones.

Ernie's Tin Bar in Petaluma, about 40 miles north of San Francisco, has several prominent signs saying cell phones aren't allowed. In practice, the bar allows texting, photo-taking and other quiet person-to-phone interactions and only bans phone conversations. However, owner Ernest Altenreuther says a lot of people won't even bring their phones into the bar because they're nervous about breaking the rule or changing the atmosphere of the bar.

"It's annoying to be sitting there at the bar and have someone talking on the phone rather than talking to other people," says Altenreuther, whose great-grandfather opened the bar in 1923. Banning cell phones, he says, "promotes a more social environment where people are speaking to each other."

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