Put Down the Phone or No Soup for You! IKEA Table Enforces Family Rule

IKEA Taiwan created one heck of a conversation starter with a table that encourages people to put down their cell phones at the dinner table. In fact, they can’t eat unless the phones are out of their hands.

The table works like this: Diners must put their phones in a small electronic bin located underneath a hot plate. Each phone placed in the bin heats a pot of soup on top of the plate. The more phones in the bin, the hotter the pot gets. No phones, no soup.

Consumers at the store where the table made its debut were a little reluctant at first – perhaps more to put their phones underneath a hot plate than to actually lose their phones – but as more phones went in and they saw the soup get hot, they embraced the challenge, even if a few did a little peeking.

While the table isn’t likely to head through IKEA’s mass market machine any time soon, the idea of a table that whimsically enforces phone-free conversation is one we’re ready to embrace.

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