A bar in England disables gadgets’s signal so that people can talk to each other.
Smartphones undeniably set people apart in the modern world. No more room for couples and families to talk to each other, even when they are seated side-by-side, because their minds are into their screen. But things are different in a bar in England.
But a bar in Brighton, England does not keep the smartphones ruining people’s social lives and interacting skills and so, they disabled cellphone receptions so that their customers will be ‘forced’ to talk to each other.
Patrons of the Gin Tub bar will have to pass the time by actually interacting with their friends, dates or even complete strangers instead of texting, checking emails or browsing the internet.
To avoid from argument, owner Steve Tyler did not opt to tell directly the customers that they have to talk to each other the traditional way but instead, he opted to disable devices’ reception completely.
The Gin Tub has a Faraday cage built into its ceiling, which makes getting a reception inside the venue impossible. He says it was the only exception in Britain’s 2006 Wireless Telegraphy Act that otherwise outlaws the use of signal blockers. So yes, it’s 100% legal.
“Mobile phones have killed pubs. When you go out socially, you don’t need social media,” Tyler says. “Rather than telling people they can’t use they phones we’ve basically disabled them.” He makes sure to clarify that the Faraday shield doesn’t jam phone signals, as that would be illegal. Instead the 19th-century device prevents the signal from getting inside.
Customers are not prohibited, of course, to bring their smartphones with them inside the bar but it is impossible to connect with friends through their mobile. To not isolate the bar’s patrons from the world, they can use these phones to call the bar for an extra round of drinks, to avoid clustering at the bar, or call another table and get a conversation going, under the condition that they buy their neighbors a drink.
“A lot of people go to bars and don’t even talk to their friends, let alone new people. I wanted people to interact with each other and not with people who aren’t in the room with them,” Tyler said. “For me, it’s killing the social side of going out. They’re socializing with people that they’re not with, which they could do at home anyways. But we’re not going to let you”.
The Gin Tub opened on July 22, 2016, and judging by the online reviews, people are loving the vintage experience of actually talking to other human being face to face. “The interest has been enormous,” Steve Tyler says. “We’re really proud of what we’ve done”.