Texting during a movie

I would gladly pay another $5 a ticket to at least hire a damn usher to hang out in the theater and lay the smack down when people decide to be a-holes. It really is a symptom of a larger problem though. People are a-holes everywhere.

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Me, too! Cellphone use and texting during movies in the movie theatres, with very rare exceptions, have gotten really out of hand. Here's hoping more theatres create that kind of policy in the future.

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"It does not take a majority to prevail, but rather an irate, tireless minority, keen on setting brush fires of freedom in the minds of men." -- Samuel Adams (1722-1803)

Texting and cellphone use, generally, seems to be much less of a problem in movie theatres that show better-quality movies. It's in the multi-plex cinemas with ten to thirty shoe-box-sized cinemas, where the problem is the greatest.

I disagree with what you're saying here, Sexy Celebrity. I think that there really should be a zero-tolerance policy towards cellphone use and texting in movie theatres, because, even if the phone is on silent or vibration, the bright light is still very distracting to people. Most people pay to come see the movie at the theatre, and not be rudely distracted by these rude, cellphone using, texting individuals. I say...let the rude texters/cellphone users stay home. This sort of "if one can't beat them, join them and adapt" attitude is a cop-out. Good for the manager at the Alama Drafthouse Theatre in Austin, TX for kicking that little b**tch out! She deserved it!!

I just say THEY ALL SHOULD BE SHOT , unless it is a emergency............

Well, I like how you say there should be a zero-tolerance policy. I agree with that. In that case, though, you need the fiercest of movie theatre ushers to be willing to stand around and kick out people caught using their phones. Normally, every once in awhile during the movie, you have that goofy usher person come in and waltz around up and down the aisles, check the fire escape, etc. -- during the movie -- and that's it. Smart people will know to keep their phones off or hidden during these moments, then bring them back up for use when the usher is gone. In order to get proper expectations of the Zero Tolerance on Cell Phones policy done, you need to:

A. Let everyone know there's a Zero Tolerance policy on cell phones - if they see it, you're gone.

B. Install a Terminator-like usher into each theatre, perhaps during the whole movie, to keep careful watch of people and their phones and other behavior.

Now, B isn't that bad of an idea, BUT, it requires hiring a bunch of fierce people to stand around during each movie - and not leave, like they do. I suppose they could sit, but sitting would make it hard to watch everybody. Standing for that long is painful.

Oh, well, I don't need to go into everything. I just think it could be hard to really keep everything under control. It's a movie theatre. It's a darkened room. When movie theatres were created, nobody predicted people would soon be carrying their own telephones around, that flash as bright as flashlights and make lots of annoying sounds. I agree that these things shouldn't be in use in movie theatres, but it might be a real toughy to get everything completely wonderful again.

It's not about actual enforcement for very long, though. It's about setting a tone that reverberates. If you kick someone out, odds are good that showing's going to be phone-less pretty much the rest of the way. And each person who saw it is going to be careful about it in the future, too. And word'll get around.

You probably don't have to kick too many people out before it starts policing itself a bit. Though thankfully, the thing that makes the phones annoying (bright screens and noise) are things easily detected by an usher just standing in the back.

Well, as long as they make sure to watch out for those damn bluetooth earpieces that are turned on. I'm telling you, those are worse than any phone in a movie theatre.

plus, nobody wants a stern-faced looking Terminator type watching them watch a movie. it'd be unnerving.

especially since sometimes it's nice to go to a movie with someone under the pretense of watching a film, but actually you just wanna... well, y'know.

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I'm still really excited about this commercial ("MAGNITED STATES OF AMERICA!"). I don't know if the tide will ever turn on this issue, but if it does, this is the way it would: something goes viral and lots of people see it and then don't want to be seen the way that girl was. If this is going to "start" at any point, I think it would start like this.

Aye. But if they stand in the back, I don't mind. My usual theater usually has someone in the back to watch the reserved seats, anyway.

Oh yeah, absolutely. Sometimes a guy just needs to sit and eat copious amounts of popcorn without anyone judging him for it.

Hey, some people like Terminators voyeuristically watching them.

People are tied to their electronics like it's part of their DNA. It's crazy. Try leaving the cell phone at home some times! It's a nice escape from the tether of modern communication.

Texting during a movie drives me in sane. At the movie theatre near me they started putting someone in the theatre to watch for it and ask them to leave. Awesome.

I m in two minds about this. A ringing phone and conversation is annoying and rude while you are at the cinema. How is texting annoying? So long as the phone is not making a noise while texting. If the glow the phone makes is annoying you can t be too interested in the movie.

I was at movie with my boyfriend, my best friend, and the girl my best friend likes. She was texting during the movie... Which I saw as very rude considering my friend had paid for her to get in. What is SO important that she had to open her bright ass phone right next to me while I'm trying to enjoy the film I paid to see?

you shoulda said something. even if you had said it in a jokey manner, she'd have gotten the point.

shut up, movie-ruiner.

Er, yeah, what? Giant glowing things would distract me from almost anything in a dark room, no matter how interested I was.

How about this: if you're using your phone, you can't be too interested in the movie. And that's the answer to the rhetorical question that Rone asked above: they do it because they're not that interested in the movie. They're going to just hang out with friends or have something to do, so the movie is not their first priority.