Sorry, but ALL of it has no place in the theater, in my opinion. Whether it's the insistent "Hrummm...Hrummm...Hrummm" of a phone on vibrate, the soft rattle of dainty fingernails on keypads, the "CHEE-rup" of a low battery signal, the winking of dozens of digital fireflies, the soft snap of flip phones closing, or the not-so-quiet murmur of a "quick, discrete" conversation, it's distracting and inconsiderate. Just how much of a slave are we to the technology that we cannot set it aside for a couple hours? We cannot slip the leash of Our Master's Leash long enough to take a three hour vacation to imagination, and allow others to do the same? Can we not trust our babysitters for that long, as we have for decades previous, to handle a crisis for that long? Have we really fallen so far, so quickly?
^ Well said. The cinema is a place for all. Also, why pay the money for a ticket if you won't even watch. It's illogical. Is anyone ever put off by the smell of the cinema food. Or, people eating it noisily, spilling it, throwing it. There's one theatre I know where this is unbearable.
The floors of this one theater were always uber sticky, quite comical footsteps really. The audience were noisy, the bathrooms were a mess, food was expensive, but I went anyone because they had this arcade game that was so fun to play, I believe it was Strikers 1945. I stopped going after it broke down.
Unexpected accidents and serious illness can happen at any time. My son is more important to me than worry about if I am ruining someone's viewing pleasure. People are more important than a lot of things. Movies being one of them. I think you shouldn't put the movie up so high that you forget what really matters. Family.
I think what cog is saying is that, in previous times, before mobile phones were available, the babysitters had to be trusted. Also, that if a crisis occurred, we would have no way of knowing. Yet, back then, things seemed to go fine. I don't think he's saying that films are more important than families. Also, if you're going to take calls keep your phone on silence, and take it outside the room, even though it could be an emergency. These people did pay to go.
I would also keep my phone on (silent/vibrate) if I had children. However, if I couldn't trust the babysitter then why the heck would I be leaving them with her/him to go out to a film? I'd rather stay home and not risk it, rather than spend the night clawing holes in the upholstery and leaving to make calls and check up on them.
I almost always turn my cell phone off, but if I know someone may need to call me, I leave it on silent (not vibrate, not alarm setting --silent). If the film does not hold my attention or I want to check my phone for messages, I leave the theatre because there is no such thing as "discrete texting" or "discrete calling." Unless you are the only one in the back row and have a very quiet keypad. There are kids all the time who text "discretely," and it really angers me. I paid $20 for this film! And you're ruining my experience. At the last film I saw (Toy Story 3), there was a pair of girls sitting a few rows ahead of me, and I noticed one pulled out her cell phone, texted, and then closed it. Not ten seconds later, her friend got a text message. She opened it, read it, and giggled softly at her friend. WTF. Whispering is less discrete than that; you're running up your phone bill; you're ruining my experience. A few people have said that they can understand people might use their phones if they are concerned about their family or about an emergency. If it's really that big of an issue for you, put your damn phone on vibrate, and if you feel it go off, leave the theater and then answer your call (not before, you ding-dong!). You dont leave it on and answer the call in the theater. It's really, really simple manners. xx As far as non-technological theater etiquette is concerned, I think the worst audience I've ever watched a movie with happened a few years ago. A young boy (around 12, I guess, I was probably 15) was kicking my seat --hard. Like his foot wasnt just shaking; he was actively kicking it and you could hear the noise from it. So I asked him quietly to please stop or at least move and kick an empty seat, not mine. I asked him about three times before I stood up and moved to another seat. He moved with me and began to kick my new seat! I finally went up to speak with his mother and she "shh"-ed me! After the 2.5 hour film finally ended, I yelled at his mother, who just couldnt understand what my problem was. My problem was that I wasted 2.5 hours of my life, and she'd better pay me back for the film I didnt get to watch thanks to her ugly child. People.
I couldn't agree more on this topic. If I had left my children with a babysitter, and one of my children slipped over and split their head open, or the sitter took them for a drive and they were in a car accident, or my child ended up in emergency in the hospital, then I would hate myself if I had turned my phone off. I don't let just anyone take care of my children while I am out, I leave them with people I trust to keep them out of harm, but life is unpredictable, and if I have a mobile phone that I keep on me when I am away from my children for medical emergencies, then I can guarantee you, I am going to have it turned on, on silent, in my hand the entire time. If they are with me, I have it off. If people don't like that, then I don't give a damn. It's their problem, NOT mine. And for those who would say "Then don't leave your kids and go watch a movie" Say what you like, I don't care. Parents deserve a break as well. If I leave my children and they were badly injured, and it was life and death and I could not be contacted because I turned my phone off to watch a movie and my child died because of me having my phone off, I couldn't live with myself. (although I don't go to the movies unless I have me children with me, and because I can't take Tobin in, I don't go at all, I send Dan in) I think that it is perfectly ok to have your phone on silent in the theatre, etc, for emergency reasons. We have phones for emergency situations, we DON'T live in the stone ages anymore, so why should we not make use of what we have? I'm no slave to technology, but I do use it if I need to and will not feel guilty for it.
Gotta say I'm guilty. But its mostly my friends. Alot of them are girls and are really bubbly and couldn't be without their texts for over an hour (oh noez!). So yeah I guess you could say we're those annoying people. But whatever. We're young xD Edit: Although I am guilty by association, when I go to a movie I really like I literally don't speak and turn my phone on silent. Like when me and my friend saw Harry Potter in the theatres. We didn't want our friends to know how much we wanted to see it so we went alone xD
