Overview
- The pilot launched on 26 October in 15 voluntarily participating restaurants across Sardinia and asks adults and under-18s to set aside smartphones during shared meals.
- Participants are encouraged to place phones in provided boxes or keep devices out of reach and receive a meeting-kit that contains games, coloring pages and brochures produced with the Italian Association of Pediatricians.
- Anna Cau, Sardinia’s children and youth commissioner, leads the initiative and is working with the regional hospitality and tourism association, whose president Emanuele Frongia says restaurants can help restore family togetherness.
- Organizers stress the scheme is persuasive not compulsory and that restaurateurs will collect feedback from families and staff for a local evaluation that will determine whether to expand the program.
- The campaign targets rising screen use at the table and aims to change family routines by testing simple, restaurant-based interventions that could inform wider efforts to curb children’s screen time and strengthen face-to-face interaction.