# Would you patronize a movie theater that has a mobile device ban? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [January 15, 2014, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-patronize-a-movie-theater-that-has-a-mobile-device-ban/678835 "2014-01-15T00:26:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2014, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-patronize-a-movie-theater-that-has-a-mobile-device-ban/678835/81 "2014-01-18T00:56:46Z")
If blockers prove impractical for technical reasons such as can’t contain the block to within the hall or building, then here would be my dream cinema: Someone turns on their phone. Electronic trackers alert the system. The movie stops. A spotlight turns on and shines on the offender. A team of six burly ushers march down, three on each side, to “escort” the offender out. Biometric data are taken to ensure the offender is banned for life. ---
**Author:** ![artemis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/91b2a8/32.png) [@artemis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/artemis)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2014, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-patronize-a-movie-theater-that-has-a-mobile-device-ban/678835/82 "2014-01-18T01:20:19Z")
> [@SpoilerVirgin](#): > > My life ran just fine before cellphones, and I’m sure it would run just fine without them. Yes, people might actually have to sit at their desks, or next to a landline in their homes, but the same work would get done. > > I’m curious if anyone can come up with a bona fide example of work that couldn’t be done without cellphones… **Sterling Archer** already gave you one - IT work. The days without cellphones were also the days without an Internet. As for me, I’d quit my job if being on call meant being tethered to a phone line at home. And I think you’d find that most professionals in fields that require extensive call would do the same. ---
**Author:** ![SpoilerVirgin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4491bb/32.png) [@SpoilerVirgin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SpoilerVirgin)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2014, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-patronize-a-movie-theater-that-has-a-mobile-device-ban/678835/83 "2014-01-18T02:17:58Z")
> [@artemis](#): > > **Sterling Archer** already gave you one - IT work. The days without cellphones were also the days without an Internet. > > As for me, I’d quit my job if being on call meant being tethered to a phone line at home. And I think you’d find that most professionals in fields that require extensive call would do the same. Prior to cellphones there were plenty of fields that required 24-hour call. It was called shifts. If there were no cellphones, IT-work would be done in shifts. You’d work your shift, and then you’d go home, and someone else would sit by the phone waiting for the emergency. Plenty of people today do shiftwork that can’t be done by cellphone (nurses, firefighters, etc.). Doctors were on call long before cellphones, they just used pagers instead. It would be a simple matter to organize shifts/pagers for IT work, and I’m sure that there would be plenty of people willing to do those jobs, just as there were before cellphones. ---
**Author:** ![even\_sven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dfb087/32.png) [@even\_sven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/even_sven)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2014, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-patronize-a-movie-theater-that-has-a-mobile-device-ban/678835/84 "2014-01-18T02:44:14Z")
I would go out of my way to go to the opposite- a more casual theater that allowed talking, encouraged reacting to the screen, etc. I’m happiest when a movie has a lively crowd. If I wanted to sit in silence, I’d watch a movie at home alone. ---
**Author:** ![monstro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba9def/32.png) [@monstro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monstro)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2014, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-patronize-a-movie-theater-that-has-a-mobile-device-ban/678835/85 "2014-01-18T03:23:50Z")
I agree, **even sven**. I love it when people talk at the screens. As long as what they say is funny, that stuff never gets old for me. ---
**Author:** ![SpoilerVirgin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4491bb/32.png) [@SpoilerVirgin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SpoilerVirgin)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2014, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-patronize-a-movie-theater-that-has-a-mobile-device-ban/678835/86 "2014-01-18T03:24:24Z")
> [@even\_sven](#): > > I would go out of my way to go to the opposite- a more casual theater that allowed talking, encouraged reacting to the screen, etc. I’m happiest when a movie has a lively crowd. If I wanted to sit in silence, I’d watch a movie at home alone. I think there’s a difference between talking and reacting to the screen, which is engaging _with the movie_ in a social setting, and texting or talking on your phone about something completely unrelated, which is distracting _from the movie_. ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2014, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-patronize-a-movie-theater-that-has-a-mobile-device-ban/678835/87 "2014-01-18T03:54:19Z")
> [@SpoilerVirgin](#): > > I think there’s a difference between talking and reacting to the screen, Since there is no metric that can be applied for determining which interruptions are acceptable and which are annoying the only behavior that covers all situations is a blanket standard of no-talking. ---
**Author:** ![even\_sven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dfb087/32.png) [@even\_sven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/even_sven)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2014, 6:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-patronize-a-movie-theater-that-has-a-mobile-device-ban/678835/88 "2014-01-18T06:36:31Z")
> [@Magiver](#): > > Since there is no metric that can be applied for determining which interruptions are acceptable and which are annoying the only behavior that covers all situations is a blanket standard of no-talking. :rolleyes: I’d still personally prefer a hypothetical theater that allows talking. ---
**Author:** ![Steophan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steophan/32/9595_2.png) [@Steophan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steophan)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2014, 11:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-patronize-a-movie-theater-that-has-a-mobile-device-ban/678835/89 "2014-01-18T11:22:01Z")
I go to the cinema regularly, sometimes several times a week, and I don’t use my phone while the film’s on, mainly because I’m there to watch the it. What anyone else does, unless it’s so loud I can’t hear the film or so distracting that it blocks the screen or whatever makes no difference. if you’re getting distracted by the amount of light from a phone you probably need to see better films. Yes, people who use them are inconsiderate dicks for the most part. But then, so are people who expect everyone else in a public space to conform to their ideals - no perfume! no talking! no distractions, ever! There’s a happy medium, where you put up with other people annoying you mildly so you can do your little things that annoy others. So no, no ban, no kicking someone out for checking a text, only any sort of action taken if someone’s actively and persistently disrupting it. ---
**Author:** ![gracer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8e7dd6/32.png) [@gracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gracer)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2014, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-patronize-a-movie-theater-that-has-a-mobile-device-ban/678835/90 "2014-01-18T13:30:01Z")
> [@even\_sven](#): > > I would go out of my way to go to the opposite- a more casual theater that allowed talking, encouraged reacting to the screen, etc. I’m happiest when a movie has a lively crowd. If I wanted to sit in silence, I’d watch a movie at home alone. I couldn’t agree more. In Dutch trains there are silence compartments, where you have to be absolutely silent. I’m sure some people think “great idea, I’d love that!” It’s not. People go in there with an unrealistic expectation of what it’s like to share a small enclosed area with other people. You think that because they need to be quiet, it’ll be like being on your own. It’s not. You’re touching knees with someone who smells and is trying to hard to be quiet so that it’s awkward. Twenty people in a small space is never quiet, and people get annoyed at the things you can’t do anything about: the people whose breath is wheezy, whose paper is rustley. Then there are always the foreigners who get on not knowing the rules or a single mother with 3 kids and pram who didn’t see the sign. Then someone says something about it, in a low voice, and it’s awkward and everyone is on edge. The mother tries to move, but everyone feels bad for her. And even if you do get silence you don’t get the experience you thought you would: their arm is on the armrest, their foot is where you wanted yours, their coat smells musty, their wet umbrella drips on you and now they’re opening their bag of sandwiches: salami. Needless to say, the silence compartment is always filled with grumpy, dissatisfied people who don’t manage to work out their dissatisfaction is not the result of the nuisance that other people are, but the result of their choice of how to approach things. It is far better to step into a space expecting interaction with people. Understanding that yes, you bought a ticket, so did everybody else and that’s what you are entitled to: a film in a room with lots of other people. If you wanted to meditate in silence you should go on a buddhist silent retreat, not on a train and those wanting to watch a film without other people should watch it at home without other people. The rules that try to minimise the nuisance of other people will never be enough and only create unrealistic expectations and a distorted sense of entitlement. It would be a far, far better thing to learn to revel in the presence of other people and the communal act of watching a film together or taking a train to a common destination. ---
**Author:** ![Lydia\_Phalfav](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a6a055/32.png) [@Lydia\_Phalfav](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lydia_Phalfav)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2014, 9:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-patronize-a-movie-theater-that-has-a-mobile-device-ban/678835/91 "2014-01-19T09:40:36Z")
I generally hate to go to movie theaters anymore just because of inconsiderate people becoming more & more of a problem. Also, the speakers are jacked up way too loud anymore. I’ll go maybe once or twice a year with the hubby since he loves the big theaters. Since quite a few theaters have many rooms for the latest releases, I can see them making one of those open to texting & cellphone use or generally “family friendly” while the others have an outright ban. Lump all the offenders together. ---
**Author:** ![gaffa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2014, 4:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-patronize-a-movie-theater-that-has-a-mobile-device-ban/678835/92 "2014-01-20T04:54:41Z")
I have a concept that would work for everyone. I’ll write it up tomorrow when I’m on a device with a keyboard. ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2014, 5:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-patronize-a-movie-theater-that-has-a-mobile-device-ban/678835/93 "2014-01-20T05:24:39Z")
given the quality of large screen TV’s I would be surprised if we don’t gravitate toward first run movies at home. Then the people who think their comments are worthy of a paying audience can sell tickets and the people who need to call home can talk in person. Everybody’s happy. ---
**Author:** ![Rick\_Kitchen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rick_kitchen/32/522_2.png) [@Rick\_Kitchen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick_Kitchen)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2014, 5:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-patronize-a-movie-theater-that-has-a-mobile-device-ban/678835/94 "2014-01-20T05:38:00Z")
> [@](#): > > Does the glow of a cell phone from someone texting really bother you that much? Hell yes, it bothers me. Having a flashlight shining in your eyes while watching a movie in a darkened theater doesn’t bother you? ---
**Author:** ![Blackberry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ecd19e/32.png) [@Blackberry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blackberry)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2014, 5:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-patronize-a-movie-theater-that-has-a-mobile-device-ban/678835/95 "2014-01-20T05:39:25Z")
> [@Magiver](#): > > given the quality of large screen TV’s I would be surprised if we don’t gravitate toward first run movies at home. Then the people who think their comments are worthy of a paying audience can sell tickets and the people who need to call home can talk in person. Everybody’s happy. Not the exhibitionists. ---
**Author:** ![ktribe808](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b38774/32.png) [@ktribe808](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ktribe808)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2014, 6:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-patronize-a-movie-theater-that-has-a-mobile-device-ban/678835/96 "2014-01-20T06:11:40Z")
Hell yeah! I am annoyed by cell phones in general and yeah, I know it is my problem. What has really annoyed me is that I had to resort to actually stating in my syllabi that cell phones must be silenced in the class room. ---
**Author:** ![Blackberry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ecd19e/32.png) [@Blackberry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blackberry)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2014, 6:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-patronize-a-movie-theater-that-has-a-mobile-device-ban/678835/97 "2014-01-20T06:25:15Z")
> [@ktribe808](#): > > What has really annoyed me is that I had to resort to actually stating in my syllabi that cell phones must be silenced in the class room. I think every syllabus I’ve gotten since the late '90s/early '00s has said that. I had one really annoying professor who insisted not just that you silence it and don’t look at it (perfectly reasonable), but actually that it be turned completely off. I and I’m sure everyone else was like “whatever” and just left them on because how would he ever know? But one woman argued and argued with him about it and it turned into this big ordeal that left the teacher really angry and her practically in tears. She had kids so she was super special. ---
**Author:** ![bengangmo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/50afbb/32.png) [@bengangmo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bengangmo)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2014, 8:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-patronize-a-movie-theater-that-has-a-mobile-device-ban/678835/98 "2014-01-20T08:03:06Z")
> [@WOOKINPANUB](#): > > I know some of you posted after my clarification, but just to make the question more clear, I’m speaking of a ban on \*operating \*one, lets say, from the time you enter the auditorium until you leave. > > **artemis** , not trying to pick on you; you’re actually the responder I was hoping for so I can ask, respectfully, if you’re possibly expecting a page so important within the next two hours, why would you go to a movie? I can’t speak for **artemis** , But speaking generally of doctors, cell phones and movies. We had our delivery docs mobile number - if wifey was going into labour, I don’t find it too unreasonable to expect to get into basically immediate contact with the doc - after all, that’s why we booked him for the delivery, and why we had the mobile in the first place. At the same time I find it pretty unreasonable to expect the doc to have no life at all. For a longer movie - (like Lord of the Rings for example) it would be more than 2 hours before getting in contact with the doc - for the average delivery, that’s a pretty small amount of time. If something is going wrong though, that can be an eternity. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2014, 8:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-patronize-a-movie-theater-that-has-a-mobile-device-ban/678835/99 "2014-01-20T08:31:23Z")
> [@bengangmo](#): > > I can’t speak for **artemis** , > > But speaking generally of doctors, cell phones and movies. > > We had our delivery docs mobile number - if wifey was going into labour, I don’t find it too unreasonable to expect to get into basically immediate contact with the doc - after all, that’s why we booked him for the delivery, and why we had the mobile in the first place. > > At the same time I find it pretty unreasonable to expect the doc to have no life at all. > > For a longer movie - (like Lord of the Rings for example) it would be more than 2 hours before getting in contact with the doc - for the average delivery, that’s a pretty small amount of time. If something is going wrong though, that can be an eternity. Then he can set it on vibrate and take a walk out of the hall when it goes off. ---
**Author:** ![bengangmo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/50afbb/32.png) [@bengangmo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bengangmo)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2014, 9:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-patronize-a-movie-theater-that-has-a-mobile-device-ban/678835/100 "2014-01-20T09:01:15Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > Then he can set it on vibrate and take a walk out of the hall when it goes off. Yep 🙂 And it’s what I’d expect him to do. Sorry - I should have been clearer - I was trying to address some form of either a) Taking the phone away from people prior to entering the theatre b) Some form of signal blocking device stopping the phone from working [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-patronize-a-movie-theater-that-has-a-mobile-device-ban/678835.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-patronize-a-movie-theater-that-has-a-mobile-device-ban/678835.md?page=6)