# Does anyone else find it highly annoying when people wander around when watching movies at home? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [May 26, 2019, 7:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-else-find-it-highly-annoying-when-people-wander-around-when-watching-movies-at-home/834541 "2019-05-26T07:57:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Inigo\_Montoya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inigo_montoya/32/124_2.png) [@Inigo\_Montoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inigo_Montoya)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2019, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-else-find-it-highly-annoying-when-people-wander-around-when-watching-movies-at-home/834541/61 "2019-05-29T19:25:00Z")
I was going to just observe someone seems to be projecting. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2019, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-else-find-it-highly-annoying-when-people-wander-around-when-watching-movies-at-home/834541/62 "2019-05-29T19:55:02Z")
> [@sitchensis](#): > > First off, everything you listed has a ton more interaction then a movie. Second, your example is about going out to a movie, the OP is talking about getting together with friends to watch a movie at someone’s house. > Getting together to watch a movie is a great birthday party for a 12 year old, it’s not a great birthday party for a 40 year old. Once you old enough to drive, getting together to watch a movie is just an excuse you use to hang with your friends, because your parents need something better than “we’re just gonna hang out”. Once you move out, getting together to watch a movie is just an excuse to get together to drink/ have sex. Once you’re old enough that you don’t need the excuses, you stop getting together to watch movies. There are very few adults who actually want to get together and watch movies, evidenced by the OP. As a guy who unexpectedly found himself dating at 52, I have no clue as to what you’re talking about. Literally has zero validity within my recent experiences. ---
**Author:** ![LC\_Strawhouse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e19adc/32.png) [@LC\_Strawhouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LC_Strawhouse)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2019, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-else-find-it-highly-annoying-when-people-wander-around-when-watching-movies-at-home/834541/63 "2019-05-29T20:46:47Z")
Isn’t this the filmmaker’s problem? If the movie is good enough then people will sit and watch it. And you can’t expect a 50 year old to have the same level of respect for most movies as a 15 year old would, plus most movies are geared to less mature audiences anyway. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2019, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-else-find-it-highly-annoying-when-people-wander-around-when-watching-movies-at-home/834541/64 "2019-05-29T20:48:39Z")
Have we been invaded by people from an alt-Earth who apparently take it as a moral code not to like films past the age of, I guess, 17? ---
**Author:** ![LC\_Strawhouse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e19adc/32.png) [@LC\_Strawhouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LC_Strawhouse)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2019, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-else-find-it-highly-annoying-when-people-wander-around-when-watching-movies-at-home/834541/65 "2019-05-29T20:58:25Z")
Watching a good movie is fun, but I also have no desire to sit around in a coffeeshop and dissect what I just saw in a group setting, Lisa Simpson style. ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2019, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-else-find-it-highly-annoying-when-people-wander-around-when-watching-movies-at-home/834541/66 "2019-05-29T20:58:44Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > This I hate. I had a friend who would constantly ask questions like this. Just shut up and watch the show! He’d even do it in a movie theater. And he’d also make comments like “Oho! He’s going to …” Shutupshutupshutup Ugh. My older sister is like this. Drives me insane. Don’t talk to me about what you’re planning to do for vacation this year **while we’re sitting in a theater watching a movie.** And I get extra stressed knowing that’s also annoying those around us in the theater. If I’m watching something I want to watch it! I don’t want to chitchat and I don’t want to fill you in on what you missed when you weren’t paying attention. ---
**Author:** ![sitchensis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sitchensis/32/4892_2.png) [@sitchensis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sitchensis)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2019, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-else-find-it-highly-annoying-when-people-wander-around-when-watching-movies-at-home/834541/67 "2019-05-29T21:29:50Z")
> [@JohnT](#): > > Have we been invaded by people from an alt-Earth who apparently take it as a moral code not to like films past the age of, I guess, 17? If you thought you’d like the film so much you could always invite them to see it when if first comes out at a movie theater. You could go really crazy and get some dinner and make a night of it. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2019, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-else-find-it-highly-annoying-when-people-wander-around-when-watching-movies-at-home/834541/68 "2019-05-29T21:36:47Z")
> [@sitchensis](#): > > If you thought you’d like the film so much you could always invite them to see it when if first comes out at a movie theater. You could go really crazy and get some dinner and make a night of it. The concept of “when it first comes out” means little or nothing to me. Some of my favorite films are films I had no conception of when they first came out. I might have been unaware of them, or uninterested at the time, or too young, or not born yet. Same with books or music or paintings. Movies are part of an art form, not merely a consumable with a sell-by date. ---
**Author:** ![SCAdian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scadian/32/3292_2.png) [@SCAdian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SCAdian)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2019, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-else-find-it-highly-annoying-when-people-wander-around-when-watching-movies-at-home/834541/69 "2019-05-29T21:59:58Z")
> [@k9bfriender](#): > > the first thing he did was to pick up the remote and turn on the TV to a random channel, then walk out of the room. Not watching it, not paying any attention to even what it was that he had turned on. Sounds like my ex. Almost every day. ---
**Author:** ![Asuka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@Asuka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asuka)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2019, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-else-find-it-highly-annoying-when-people-wander-around-when-watching-movies-at-home/834541/70 "2019-05-29T22:39:19Z")
I don’t know what’s with the Straight Dopes obsession with pulling a Crowder and inventing strawmen so they can valiantly fight them. Every single one of my examples are of when people invited me over to specifically watch a movie, and then proceeded to just leave for large portions of it to do whatever. I’m not complaining about somebody nibbling on a pizza while they’re watching, I’m literally talking about somebody who invites me over for something and then they just completely ignore both me and the TV. ---
**Author:** ![TBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@TBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TBG)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2019, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-else-find-it-highly-annoying-when-people-wander-around-when-watching-movies-at-home/834541/71 "2019-05-29T23:01:50Z")
Not people I’m watching something with getting up and doing random things, but I can’t watch a movie in the shared parts of the house with out some one coming through the room and disrupting the experience. So I mostly only watch movies in my bedroom. It’s got a bigger TV anyway. ---
**Author:** ![Slash1972](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slash1972/32/6461_2.png) [@Slash1972](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slash1972)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2019, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-else-find-it-highly-annoying-when-people-wander-around-when-watching-movies-at-home/834541/72 "2019-05-29T23:33:11Z")
> [@SCAdian](#): > > Sounds like my ex. Almost every day. What’s weird about that? I do the same thing. It’s just background noise. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2019, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-else-find-it-highly-annoying-when-people-wander-around-when-watching-movies-at-home/834541/73 "2019-05-29T23:37:17Z")
> [@Asuka](#): > > I don’t know what’s with the Straight Dopes obsession with pulling a Crowder and inventing strawmen so they can valiantly fight them. Every single one of my examples are of when people invited me over to specifically watch a movie, and then proceeded to just leave for large portions of it to do whatever. I’m not complaining about somebody nibbling on a pizza while they’re watching, I’m literally talking about somebody who invites me over for something and then they just completely ignore both me and the TV. I noticed too. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2019, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-else-find-it-highly-annoying-when-people-wander-around-when-watching-movies-at-home/834541/74 "2019-05-30T01:05:20Z")
> [@Asuka](#): > > I don’t know what’s with the Straight Dopes obsession with pulling a Crowder and inventing strawmen so they can valiantly fight them. Every single one of my examples are of when people invited me over to specifically watch a movie, and then proceeded to just leave for large portions of it to do whatever. I’m not complaining about somebody nibbling on a pizza while they’re watching, I’m literally talking about somebody who invites me over for something and then they just completely ignore both me and the TV. No. You just said they get up and start wondering around. That doesn’t mean they aren’t paying attention. It just means they’re doing something else while they are watching or listening. It just means they don’t like to sit still and stare at a screen, which is normal. Genuinely not paying any attention to the guest or the movie is so utterly bizarre that no one is going to assume that it what you meant. We’re going to assume it’s something we’ve seen other people actually do. There is no reason to attack us for not being able to read your mind. ---
**Author:** ![jackdavinci](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackdavinci/32/3259_2.png) [@jackdavinci](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jackdavinci)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2019, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-else-find-it-highly-annoying-when-people-wander-around-when-watching-movies-at-home/834541/75 "2019-05-30T03:26:01Z")
I’ve been with people like this and it drives me crazy too. I’m not talking about watching TV for company or background noise or even casual entertainment. This is when the person specifically picks out something for you to watch together, the sort of thing that requires attention. And then disappears randomly throughout. Doesn’t ask you to pause it. What was the point of this? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-else-find-it-highly-annoying-when-people-wander-around-when-watching-movies-at-home/834541.md?page=3)