# Don't Text In This Theater & Expect To Get Away With It

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-text-in-this-theater-expect-to-get-away-with-it/584600>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [June 7, 2011, 5:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-text-in-this-theater-expect-to-get-away-with-it/584600 "2011-06-07T05:13:07Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![Sailboat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sailboat/32/461_2.png) [@Sailboat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sailboat)\
**Post date:** [June 8, 2011, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-text-in-this-theater-expect-to-get-away-with-it/584600/21 "2011-06-08T13:49:34Z")

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And some of them DO hold up their mobile device – possibly so they can see it and the screen at the same time. But even if they don’t, and hide it in their laps, the light shows up instantly.

You can always see an emitter much farther away than it (or someone using its radiation) can see you. This is why you can’t find things by shining a flashlight around in a field, but everyone in the neighborhood can see there’s some damnfool out in the field waving a flashlight around. It’s also why the military doesn’t always turn on sonar and radar emitters.

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**Author:** ![MilTan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71e660/32.png) [@MilTan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MilTan)\
**Post date:** [June 8, 2011, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-text-in-this-theater-expect-to-get-away-with-it/584600/22 "2011-06-08T15:12:39Z")

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> [@The\_Universe\_Lashes\_Out](#):
>
> I’d just like to point out that this is the same theater that has waitresses come around several times during the movie asking if you want anything. They have a system where you are supposed to put up a card with your order on it to avoid this, but they are still always asking if I want anything or telling me it’s last call or discussing something about an order with the person two seats over loud enough that I can hear it. It’s nice that they are anti-texting, but for a distraction-free movie, the Alamo is the last place I would go.

Except that the distractions caused by the servers are part and parcel of the Alamo experience, and people know what they are getting when they see movies at the Alamo. But just because the waiter is quietly asking me 3 times a movie if I want anything doesn’t mean that everyone else should have license to talk/text throughout.

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**Author:** ![AlsoNamedBort](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alsonamedbort/32/3213_2.png) [@AlsoNamedBort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AlsoNamedBort)\
**Post date:** [June 8, 2011, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-text-in-this-theater-expect-to-get-away-with-it/584600/23 "2011-06-08T16:23:20Z")

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> [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](#):
>
> Do the theaters you go to not have stadium seating?

You know, that’s probably the only downside to stadium seating. I went and saw X-Men at a cheap theater this weekend. First time I had been in a theater without stadium seating in years. I didn’t see a single person texting, although I’m sure they were.

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