Turn off your F-ing phone in the cinema!

[Forwardthinkingturtle]

I went to see Wicked today. Lots of kids in the cinema; they were beautifully behaved and was a lovely atmosphere. However, at least three grown adults repeatedly got their phones out on full brightness to have a little scroll and a text conversation.

It’s rare to go to the cinema and this NOT happen these days. Is nowhere sacred?! We have a real problem if the general public cannot go a couple of hours without checking their device…sets a real example to the kids too. The worst one was a couple of years ago at a Star Wars film and a woman was sat next to me playing a game on her phone(!). I politely asked her to stop and was met with abuse. She did stop when a member of staff came over but then muttered about me under her breath for the next half hour!

It is rude. Personally I think it should be a no phone zone and people can have little lockers outside to put their phone in. It's disrespectful to all involved in making the film.

I recently went to a Bob Dylan concert and all phones were locked in pouches as you entered the venue. They were unlocked as you left. It stopped eejits holding their phones in the air recording excerpts. Similar pouches were used when I attended a Punch Drunk immersion theatre event. I so hope this becomes the norm. People are complete tossers with phones. Seeing a screen lit in a darkened theatre or cinema is an annoying distraction.

Agreed. The light pollution is almost as bad as noise.

I went to the cinema on Monday. One persons phone was ringing and they actually answered it to say they were in the cinema. Another person was looking at their phone and a video started playing… and they continued to listen to it. Yes, both of those things actually happened.

This is brilliant. I would be totally on board and hope it catches on. No one seems to want to be “in the moment” any more! And let’s be honest… who even watches back video footage from concerts? It’s all for the Instagram story of course…

I love recording at concerts as chances are I know I will never be able to go back and see the artist.
Also record for family who wouldn't see the artist either.
I don't even have an Instagram account and have watched the videos more than once. I'd give anything to experience it for the first time again

Brilliant idea.

Phones in public get on my bastard nerves. It irritates the shit out of me when fully grown up adults can't just do whatever they're there to do without scrolling through their phone. There is absolutely nothing that can't wait a few hours. If it were super urgent someone would call you and you could excuse yourself and leave to go and answer it.

I've had people send me recordings from concerts and they are always, without any exception, complete shite and I don't want them.

I don't mind at concerts to record a song or two
But theatre shows and movies are just an absolute no
Someone in our screen recorded the opening credits with themselves in the other day!

Using phones in the cinema is killing the industry. I’ve stopped going for this reason.

Selfish !

I had to politely ask a twenty something sitting next to me to stop looking at her phone - in the theatre !! She seemed genuinely baffled that it was an issue 🙄but complied without aggression to be fair. These people are addicted.

It's the parents that also have to post a post a selfie of themselves sat in the seats that put "cinema date" and post it to social media to prove they are doing something wholesome with the kids.

You know about YouTube right? 🤔

Its the light pollution that is so distracting odd they dont realise that.

What if you just say you don't have a phone?

I was in sadlers wells a couple of years ago watching a ballet which was all about light, so the light show was an important part of the experience. Some bloody woman was emailing away on her phone all the way through, oblivious to the fact that the light from her screen was completely ruining it for everyone in her section of the auditorium. People were turning around and tutting her, telling her to put her phone away etc and she just ignored them and kept tapping away.

Eventually the middle aged man behind her reached over, grabbed the phone out of her hand, and lobbed it off to the side. She was too shocked to say anything. It was honestly brilliant.

I guess if you said you have no phone, they could throw you out for breaching their terms if you were seen using one. Certainly as regards Punch Drunk, as it is an immersive experience, they wouldn't welcome spoilers by people posting excerpts later. The whole point is you are led through an unfolding story.
They also searched you with metal detection wands at the Albert Hall for Dylan so I'm pretty sure you would have been collared.

We’ve stopped going to the cinema because people are now so inconsiderate. Parents scrolling on phones, children chatting along and parents making no effort to encourage them to be quiet, people grazing through noisy food packets, children heading off to the toilet multiple times after supping their way through ginormous drinks.

The cinema experience is awful, we just wait for films to come out on TV and pay for them at home. It’s not usually too long to wait.

Well done that man!

That sounds SO annoying and totally inappropriate. We have to have a phone between us on in any performance and have to periodically check it as our little girl has very severe epilepsy so her carers need to be able to contact us.

Dds friends dad threw her phone in a pond. That’s going abit far but I had some sympathy!

Last time I was in the cinema a few months ago guy a few seats down from us actually answered his phone and proceeded to have a conversation during the film.