Should restaurants have cellphone policies?

• The Life Files
• Even small phones raise a big etiquette question.

Faced with an indeterminate wait, odds are you’re going to check your cellphone at some point. Whether it’s for work or simply to update your Facebook status, you’ll have your nose buried in a tiny blue screen for a few minutes.

The Los Angeles Times looks at how restaurants are attempting to navigate the new dynamic at tables where cellphones are not an issue because they’re phones, but for all of the other uses we’ve managed to pack into our pocket computers. In the story, it’s as if every restaurant has unwittingly become a cyber cafe.

While most restaurants might not tolerate an extensive phone conversation, very few are regulating our fingers tapping on tiny keyboards. Do you think restaurants should have cellphone policies for diners?