Every night it's a battle. Phones keep disappearing, nobody's making eye contact, and my wife and I are literally the only ones talking. Started making a no phone rule at dinner and the pushback has been ridiculous but I'm standing firm. The dinner table is sacred. This is where families connect. Am I the only one fighting this fight?
This is a real issue and honestly it's becoming pretty common. You're not fighting a losing battle here, you're fighting actual addictive design. Maybe frame it that way when you talk to your kids about it.
The eye contact thing is harder to fix than the phones. Maybe start a discussion topic at dinner that actually interests them? Ask about their day with real questions, not just 'how was school'.
Have you considered just collecting the phones before dinner starts? Keep them in another room for thirty minutes. Takes the temptation away completely.
We implemented a no phones at the table rule and it took about two weeks for everyone to actually adjust. Now it's weirdly our favorite part of the day. Might be worth a family meeting about it instead of fighting every night.
My wife and I started doing a thing where everyone has to share one good thing and one challenging thing from their day. It's cheesy but it actually gets people talking instead of just sitting there silent with phones.
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How old are your kids? Because if they're teenagers the phones thing is basically an impossible battle. We just designated the dinner table as a phone free zone and made everyone participate including me.