Last week, I had a rare evening out with my daughter. The two of us don’t get to spend much time together without Dad and Brother, so it was a treat! We shopped for a birthday gift together, then went out to eat before our big event: pottery painting. Since it was my daughter’s night, I let her select the restaurant and wasn’t surprised when she picked a pizza chain. (I’m not a big fan of their product, but like I said, her choice.) The restaurant had recently been remodeled, and some of the changes were nice. They had nice decor, better tables, and much nicer booths than before. We took a seat in one booth and I was preparing to catch up with my girl when I noticed the other big change: Televisions were hanging from the ceiling at several locations, ensuring that everybody had a good view of at least two.

Televisions in restaurants used to be limited to sports bars, but now they seem to be popping up everywhere. I can understand wanting to go out to get pizza at a sports bar while you watch your favorite team play a game. But on this night there was no game on, only news- sports news and some network I’d never heard of. On the sports news, we kept seeing an NBA player arrested and carted off for weapons possession- again and again and again. The news channel’s talking heads were noiselessly ranting about a teen sex scandal. We couldn’t hear it, but my daughter is a very competent reader so it didn’t matter. We tried to have a conversation (and at times, it was great!) but her attention kept drifting back to the flashing TV over my shoulder. I was ready to rip them out of the wall!

Many studies say that, to be happier and healthier, we should be having meals together as a family to talk about our day. The same studies also link TVs at meal time to obesity. (I can certainly see why. It’s easy to stare at a television and mindlessly shovel food into your mouth.) But a restaurant meal should be a fun treat for everybody involved, right? In our family, eating in a restaurant is a rare treat, and we want to enjoy ourselves. Instead, the restaurant we chose decided that we should ignore each other and mindlessly shovel food into our mouths. In general, I bet that strategy sells more pizza, but in our case, the restaurant has lost a family of customers. I sent an email to the corporation and hope to hear back, but I’m not going to hold my breath that these TVs will go away. Next time we go out, I’ll be checking for televisions BEFORE we place the drink order.