Restaurant owner pushes for gadget ban
A family restaurant owner in Balwyn is leading a crusade against technology at the dinner table.
Restaurateur and co-owner of Columbo's Nabil Kurban wants gameboys, iPhones, iPads and other electronic gadgets gone from his tables.
He believes dinner time is a valuable family occasion and parents should not allow children should to be distracted by iPads, phones, games consoles, and other electronic devices.
So he will be personally urging families at his restaurant to switch off their gadgets at the table and open their mouths.
"All I'm asking is that people wake up a little bit...it's nice to see your children at the table having a chat with their parents and grandparents.
"We have been here for a long time and we have seen these gadgets creep in. On a normal table you have thousands of dollars worth of gadgets."
Mr Kurban says children are easily distracted by the devices and he fears an accident is just around the corner.
"They're walking downstairs, they're walking into other people who have hot drinks in their hands," he told the Herald Sun.
Nabil says reaction has been overwhelmingly supportive, but family groups say the problem goes much deeper.
Terri Kelleher of the Australian Family Association says: "I do see it as a matter of good manners basically and I don't think a restaurant regulation is going to get at that problem."
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