To the Editor: Look to Alumni for Phone Policy Advice

In “Leave the Phone at Home” Olivia R. Nelson ’29 admits that the proposal to use phone pouches might seem “infantilizing.” However, she reconsiders, wondering, “What purpose would my phone actually serve if I brought it with me to dinner?”

We have such a purpose at the Segal dinner table. Aside from urgent communications, phones are allowed only to look up information about a topic being discussed. Having phones encourages intellectual vitality, and dinners are better for it.

Perhaps we can learn a thing or two about dinnertime phone use from alumni. Upon learning that separately he knew my mother Barbara Liebgott of Jerusalem and my foreign policy expert brother Gerald Segal of London, and me, Hugh Hewitt ’78 remarked that it must have been quite something at the dinner table.

It was. Hewitt’s insight is a good way to identify alumni with great dinner table expertise. One is Ezekiel J. Emanuel, an eminent doctor whose brother Ari is a prominent talent agent and brother Rahm may run for president. Another is Gil Troy ’82, a public intellectual historian whose brother Tevi worked in the White House and brother Dan is a well-known lawyer.

Let’s tap such alumni for advice about phone policies. Some may recommend times free of electronics such as the Sabbath, and others may recommend phones small enough to fit in pockets, hiding the flashing of their enticing messages.

An even better source of wisdom may be the Rabi family. Isidor I. Rabi, alas, not an alumnus, attributed his Nobel Prize-winning work in physics to his mother not asking, “Did you learn anything today?” but instead “Did you ask a good question today?” At the Segal dinner table, we’ve applied this insight to encourage people to raise fascinating questions to stimulate discussion, now often fueled by artificial intelligence. AI is good at suggesting answers, but as the Rabi family taught us, the key skill is asking great questions.

Nelson is correct to worry that phone pouches can be infantilizing. Let’s instead learn from the wisdom of the Emanuels, Troys, and Rabis to create an atmosphere that is social, intellectually vital, and sustainable beyond college.

Michael M. Segal ’76 is a neurologist and neuroscientist and a member of the Council on Academic Freedom at Harvard.