By Staff Writer: Marissa VanDaelen

In a world that keeps on growing, technology never stops advancing. Several people would argue that technology brings people together and makes communication and tasks easier. However, several people would argue that technology tears people apart and makes communication and tasks more difficult. Technology definitely has its beneficial and detrimental sides. Depending on the situation, it can be tough to distinguish between the two at first glance.

I recently went to Chili’s to eat and noticed a tablet at my table. At first, I immediately decided it was a terrible idea because I thought the waitress wouldn’t serve any purpose. I thought that having a tablet at each table would mean that waiters’ jobs would get cut at some point. After I found out that wasn’t true, my opinion started to change.

Though it’s hard to believe that having tablets at each table in a restaurant won’t cut wait staff jobs, it has proven to be true so far. Waiters still bring your food if you decide to order on a tablet. They also stop by your table and check on you as usual.

If anything, I believe ordering food off of a tablet makes the job less stressful for waiters. They can also spend more quality time with their tables, which could possibly result in better tips. According to the Independent Restaurateur, tips have increased 15% at restaurants that utilize tablets.

Tablets don’t only provide waiters with benefits, but customers as well. Tablets allow customers to control the pace of their meal. Customers can also see how a certain food is prepared and the nutritional value of a food by using a tablet. These options weren’t previously available when just looking at a menu. It’s certainly nice to see what you’ll be putting into your body before you decide to do so.

While messing around with the tablet at Chili’s, I noticed that you can also play games on there to pass time. I didn’t enjoy this because I found out that you get charged for playing them but I think that it could be good for families with children who are impatient and want to be occupied.

Customers can pay for their meal with a tablet too. I believe this is a useful feature because you never know, when handing your credit card over to anybody, what they’ll do with it. It’s incredibly easy for people to steal credit card numbers. Using a tablet also practically ensures that you won’t leave your credit card behind because everyone knows it’s easy to forget it in the checkbook. According to the Identity Theft Resource Center, one of the most common places for identity thieves to steal credit card numbers is at restaurants. Tablets provide a safe way to pay.

Paying with a tablet is also helpful because you don’t have to wait for your check. If you’re in a hurry, this is an easy way to go and pay quickly.

The Chili’s restaurant chain uses tablets provided by Ziosk. Applebee’s recently announced that they will soon be providing tablets at each table too. Applebee’s will be installing Presto tablets by the Intel-backed group, E la Carte.

So far, tablets have proved to make nothing but positive changes to dining. It seems as though providing tablets in restaurants is spreading. Whether you believe this to be good or bad, the facts are that the use of tablets in restaurants is increasing, but it’s important to remember that the amount of restaurant servers is not decreasing. Customer satisfaction is not decreasing either.