QR code menu enabled phone addiction

Phone addiction in mainland China seems to be much higher than the already ridiculous levels it is in other places in the world. It’s very common in restaurants and coffee shops for tables of people to be ignoring each other and their kids bent over their phones.

I suspect a large component of this is the degree to which phones have become a necessary component of eating out in China. Without WeChat or Alipay, you can’t see the menu, you can’t order food and you can’t pay.

As someone who consciously tries to be present and pay full attention to those I’m eating with, family or friends, I find it much more challenging to do so when I need to constantly pick up a phone to order or add an item. It’s too easy to see something on the screen that distracts me and takes me out of the moment.

Hong Kong is a bit better in this regard as many restaurants let you order and pay with methods that don’t require a phone. But the QR code menus are encroaching on our phone-free spaces.

I’m not really sure what the solution is…the economics of QR code menus are such that they are far cheaper a printed physical menus and the competitive environment is such that these costs can be the difference between a restaurant that is a going concern vs that can’t survive.

Perhaps we are destined for a future where phone-free environments are limited to places open to the wealthy. No one else will be able to afford to be present.