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Sesame Street Muppets want you to put away your phones during dinner

Sesame Street and Common Sense team up to teach kids that meals are for talking to each other instead of texting.

Bonnie Burton
Journalist Bonnie Burton writes about movies, TV shows, comics, science and robots. She is the author of the books Live or Die: Survival Hacks, Wizarding World: Movie Magic Amazing Artifacts, The Star Wars Craft Book, Girls Against Girls, Draw Star Wars, Planets in Peril and more! E-mail Bonnie.
Bonnie Burton
2 min read
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Who knew Grover had so many computers and digital devices?

Video screenshot by Bonnie Burton/CNET

When was the last time you ate dinner and didn't check social media? If you can't stop looking at Instagram between courses, maybe you should listen to some wise advice from a few Muppets. 

In a video from Sesame Street and advocacy organization Common Sense posted on Tuesday, everyone's favorite Muppets want to remind us of our unhealthy addiction to smartphones and iPads at the table.

The Muppets have a simple solution: put your digital devices away during meals. 

The entertaining video shows Grover, Big Bird, Elmo, the Count, Bert, Ernie and other well-known Muppets doing the responsible thing before heading out to dinner by turning off their phones and tablets and placing them somewhere out of reach. 

The Muppets put their beloved devices inside desk drawers, in purses, on shelves, even in pumpkins -- or in Oscar the Grouch's case, his personal trash can. 

At the end of the video, the Muppets gather around a table at a restaurant for dinner, happily chatting away with each other. But then they notice Cookie Monster is still texting away on his phone. Though after seeing his fellow Muppets' displeasure with his actions, he eats his phone. 

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Cookie Monster really needs to stop texting during dinner.

Video screenshot by Bonnie Burton/CNET

This isn't the first time Sesame Street has tried to convince kids to get offline and appreciate life.

Back in 2014, Muppets Bert and Grover teamed with Shazam actor Zachary Levi to sing the song "A Lovely Sunny Day." 

The delightful duo sing about why it's good to unplug and go offline for a while to appreciate the great outdoors.

The song has catchy lyrics like "On the playground there's a million games to play. We don't need a fancy tablet with a retina display." 

The song was produced in partnership with the National Park Foundation and Sesame Workshop to encourage kids to unplug and reconnect with each other and nature.