Chick-fil-A Challenge: Put Down Your Phone and Score a Free Ice Cream

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If you can stay off your phone long enough to eat a meal at Chick-fil-A with your family or friends, you could score a sweet treat.

More than 150 Chick-fil-A restaurants across the country are challenging customers to drop their phones (set on “silent” mode) into a “Cell Phone Coop” — a small box that sits on their table — and enjoy a distraction-free meal with their loved ones. If you meet the challenge, you score a free Chick-fil-A Icedream.

“The challenge has completely taken off,” said Brad Williams, a Chick-fil-A operator in Suwanee, Georgia, who created the no-phone challenge in an effort to reduce distracted dining at his restaurant. “We have families who aren’t successful the first time and come back to try again. We even have people asking to take the boxes home with them!”

Williams’ idea caught on quickly. Now more than 150 restaurants have started challenges of their own. Call your local Chick-fil-A to see if you can get in on the chance to win free ice cream.

We weren’t allowed to answer the phone during dinnertime when I was growing up because my folks said mealtime was family time. I thought it was a silly rule growing up, but now that I’m a parent, I’ve implemented something similar — a “no cellphones allowed” rule at the dinner table.

It allows us to eat and catch up on one another’s days without the distraction of a ringing phone or the near-constant dings of incoming emails and texts.

What do you think of Chick-fil-A’s distraction-free dining challenge? Share your comments below or on our Facebook page.

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