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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Janx" data-source="post: 5152180" data-attributes="member: 8835">Tech at the table touches on several problems, as Steel Wind covered.Outright banning it, is the "Cranky Old Guy" solution.  Every other IT shop has one, he's the guy who's been there forever, and he wants to block every website and port, and lockdown all the PCs, so people would just focus on the work.While the COG has some valid points, his solution is so knee-jerky and extreme, it throws out the baby with the bathwater.  it shuts down innovation and new possibilities.In the past, I've had to ban Magic cards at the table, as one player attempted to use my game time as trading sessions.  I've had to ban gameboys, as my wife would fiddle with it during other people's scenes (and thus not be ready for when things shifted).  I also don't allow the TV to be on in the same room.  it was pretty obvious to spot the item and see the distraction.With smart phones and laptops's multi-function capability, it's a bit harder to tell what's legitimate and unlegitimate use sometimes.  I would not outright ban them though, but ban specific bad behaviors.  I don't play with children, so when I say everybody should be focused on the game, no non-game related tech-fiddling, I expect that to be the last of it, because my adult players understand why that behavior isn't welcome.It's still pretty obvious who's texting, who's facebooking, etc on these devices, so the problem is relatively easy to police, especially when it's causing a problem, because that's the player who isn't paying attention.</blockquote>

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