Your Phone is a Serious Mood Killer on Valentine’s Day

As much as we like to hope that fairy tale magic will make all Valentine’s Days examples of romantic perfection, there is always the opportunity of something going wrong: a reservation not being held; a waiter dropping a plate in your lap; or someone backing into your car in the crowded Lovers Lane of a parking lot. Most of the time, all of these mood crushers are out of your control. One thing in your control, however, is keeping your smartphone in your pocket or purse.

Recently, YouGov surveyed over 2,000 adults in the UK regarding their Valentine’s Day plans. When asked about what harms the evening’s romance the most, 42% said someone using a smartphone (or tablet) at the dinner table. This is not surprising, considering how hard it is to speak with someone hypnotized by an effervescent, bright screen light.

Those polled also stated that the presence of children is bothersome (10%), while topics like money (5%), football (4%) and politics (3%) should be avoided in order to keep the dinner date on track.

As for what should be eaten at a Valentine’s Day dinner, survey results pointed to steak being the most popular choice, followed distantly by salmon, pasta, pizza and burgers.

If staying away from your phone for more than 15 minutes at a time is something you struggle with, just think really carefully about what you’d like most from your future Valentine’s Days: someone you can spend many of them with, or an inanimate object that’s a bastion of high scores and virtual ‘likes.’

The first option seems way more exciting to us!

-Adam Grant