Why is everyone using their phones in movie theaters? | Mashable.
Why is everyone using their phones in movie theaters?
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| Credit: Mashable composite; Shutterstock / Rokas Tenys; Den Rozhnovsky |
The joint success of Barbie and Oppenheimer means that movie theaters are thriving. The same cannot be said of theater etiquette.
Every day brings new moviegoing horror stories, like people taking flash photos or scrolling through TikTok during screenings. A viral clip from Brazil even shows two women getting in a fight as the Barbie credits roll, all because one of the women allowed her young child to watch YouTube videos at full volume throughout the film.
The rise of phone use in movie theaters has resulted in complaints across social media, and understandably so. Watching a movie in a theater is intended to be an immersive and communal experience. But one bright phone screen or blast of TikTok audio jolts us from that immersion entirely.
After all, in the words of Nicole Kidman, patron saint of AMC Theatres, "We come to this place for magic." We don't come to this place to stare at a stranger's flashlight-bright FYP in the dark.
Despite these valid complaints, some moviegoers remain hellbent on justifying phone use in theaters. Arguments range from "We paid for a ticket so we can do what we want" to "If a movie is three hours long, I'm going to get bored and take out my phone."
These reasonings devalue the communal moviegoing experience and place arbitrary limits on the films themselves. But more importantly, they also speak to how audiences' viewing habits have shifted over the years, thanks to elements like the rise of streaming and the commodification of entertainment as a means to viral fame.
Streaming and the second-screen experience have changed how we experience movies.
Streaming has made film and TV more accessible from the comfort of our homes — and as a result has radically altered the way we watch movies. One of these major changes is the rise of the second-screen experience, which is when you watch a movie on one screen, like a laptop or TV, while also interacting with a second, like a phone or tablet.
What can you do with that second screen? The options are limitless. You could research questions you have about a film, like who a certain actor is or what a bizarre scene may have meant. You could browse social media for reactions, text friends who are watching along, or just play Subway Surfers. The point is, you're engaging with two screens at once, and what's happening on the second screen isn't always connected to what you're watching on the first.
Streaming helped popularize the second-screen experience, and that popularity only increased as COVID-19 quarantining made at-home streaming the norm. As theaters closed and studios released blockbusters on streaming services and in theaters at the same time, audiences realized they didn't have to go to the theater to catch the most anticipated movies of the year. They could just catch flashy new releases like Black Widow or Godzilla vs. Kong at home.
Watching movies at home comes with a different social contract than watching them in public.
Watching movies in this private environment comes with a different social contract than watching them in public. If you stream a movie with friends or family, the etiquette of home viewing allows for talking during the movie in a way that theater etiquette does not. The same goes for using a second screen to scroll social media or play a game. These behaviors aren't destructive to others' experiences when you're in this individualized context, but they are in poor taste once you make it to a theater. The theatrical experience is tailored to a large audience, not just one ticket holder.
Did COVID-19 quarantine routines ruin audiences for movie theaters?
Unfortunately, as audiences return to movie theaters following the end of strict COVID-19 public quarantines, they are having a hard time making that crucial distinction between the public and the private. With complaints (and memes) rolling in about people watching TikToks or texting during movie screenings, we're seeing how the second-screen experience is crashing into theatergoing — and how reluctant people are to break habits normalized by streaming.
I myself have witnessed an audience member reading the Wikipedia pages of the first three John Wick films during a screening of John Wick: Chapter 4. I've also seen someone texting their friends about how much they hated Beau Is Afraid — all throughout Beau Is Afraid. In both cases, my eyes were drawn to the brightness of their phone screens like a moth to a highly distracting flame.
There was a time when you'd reserve such research or reaction texts until after you'd left the theater, or at least until the credits had run. But a subset of today's audiences don't want to wait to get their thoughts out there or learn the answers to their questions. Instead, they're all too willing to break the social contract of movie theaters by treating them as a personal space instead of a communal one. This individualistic attitude is especially strange given the reign of Barbenheimer, which celebrates the very act of enjoying a movie with a rapt audience.
Moviegoing has become a quest for virality.
The Barbenheimer double feature is hands-down the biggest moviegoing event since COVID-19 quarantining shifted how studios release movies and how we watch them. Excitement for these films has translated from internet buzz into massive turnout in theaters. But Barbenheimer hasn't just provided film audiences with two great movies: It has also given them multiple paths to internet fame and notoriety. From memes to custom outfits, Barbenheimer is a viral phenomenon that moviegoers have flocked to in droves, hungry to claim a piece for themselves. Nowadays, it's not enough to just go see a movie; people need to know you've seen it, and the more people who know, the better.
It's not enough to just go see a movie — people need to know you've seen it.
Among these viral moviegoing trends is the practice of of taking photos or videos of the film as it plays. These photos and clips go beyond piracy, instead mimicking the kind of clip-centric behavior exhibited at concerts post-quarantine. Examples include taking repeated pictures of the film "like I was at a concert," a meme typically applied to taking photos of videos being streamed on laptops or phones. The meme's shift from these smaller screens to movie theaters reinforces the idea that post-quarantine, audiences equate moviegoing with streaming. The public experience they're striving for ignores the actual and reaches for the virtual. Fellow moviegoers don't matter, online followers do.
Elsewhere on social media, people are calling attention to the fact that they're taking photos in a theater. A popular post points to someone taking a photo of a naked J. Robert Oppenheimer (Cillian Murphy) in a public screening, only to realize their flash was on. The joke relies mostly on the humiliation that everyone knows you've documented a particular scene, and less on the transgression of using your phone in a theater. In the viewer's eye, the problem (and potential for viral humor) lies not in them taking a photo, but more in them getting caught. (Grainy images of naked Oppenheimer have since become memes in their own right.)
Both of these trends make the moviegoing experience more about the photographer than the content of the film. The real focus here is not the thing in front of the camera but the person smirking behind it. The same goes for people scrolling TikTok or otherwise using their phones during a film: In breaking the immersion of a theatrical experience, they're calling attention to their own actions instead of the movie, whether intended or not.
You may be watching a film about Barbie or Oppenheimer, but for these audience members, the only main character is themselves.
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I look forward to the day they lock phones up in pouches at movie theaters the way they do at certain concerts. I’ve spent an entire movie kicking the back of someone’s seat who wouldn’t put his phone down. 🤷 To paraphrase the pro-phone people, if you don’t like me kicking your seat, watch the movie at home.
ReplyDeleteSounds very safe and smart
Deleteas a parent who be leaving my kids with a babysitter no way can you have my phone during the movie. The odds of something happening are not likely but my phone still under my leg on vibrate. All that being said keep kicking seats because it is annoying to have people on their phones in a dark theater.
DeleteBecause people are increasingly focused only on their immediate desires and have largely abandoned the concept of courtesy or even thinking about how one's actions might affect those around them.
ReplyDeletethats always been the case in America. Nothing new here
DeleteI turn mine off and it’s stays in my pocket. The best thing about the cinema is the time away from your phone
ReplyDeleteI'm engaged in this because this was how I saw a post about Mr Richardson o maxence, and decided to give it a try and luckily it went well, I highly recommend
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I do the same. We have a home theatre and even there, my husband tells me to put my phone away.
DeleteIn 🇨🇵, if you choose to watch films in the original language, you have none of this. Sometimes, elitism has positive consequences.
ReplyDeleteI had some preteen and her family sit in the row ahead of me at a horror movie. During the scariest part of the movie where the screen was blackest, she pulls out her cellphone and starts scrolling. Not a quick peak but scrolling her feed. The bright light was blinding and totally ruined the suspenseful scene on the screen. Her parent was oblivious
ReplyDeleteThat's part of the reason I'm not interested in going to the theater anymore
ReplyDeleteI went to see Oppenheimer, in IMAX, largely because a friend had tickets and invited me. But that was the first time I have been in a movie theatre since before Covid shut everything down, and I find I don't miss it at all. I have decent equipment in my home, even without IMAX, and I don't mind waiting a month or two for a theatrical release to reach the streaming services.
Deletesame
DeleteAnd change rooms, which is worse. It's an addiction, plain and simple.
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It has always been bad. Even before cell phones, there was chit chatting. Also depends on where you live. Consequently, I only go to the movies at odd times, to avoid the crowds.
ReplyDeleteNot in my country. We still haven't devolved to that level of primitivism.
ReplyDeleteIf it doesn't affect other people it's okay
ReplyDeleteAre They??
ReplyDeleteI keep saying it, ever since the Covid lockdown people now treat the world like their livingroom. On the road, at the grocery, I won't even go to the theater... it's a sad state of affairs...
ReplyDeleteScreen savers, meme's and that fan base criticism.
ReplyDeleteTheaters should block cell phone reception in individual Theaters so people have to go to the lobby to use it.
ReplyDeleteIn my country no one uses phone in cinema so it depends where
ReplyDeleteDisturbing and infuriating
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#FuckOffScammer
DeleteThey have been doing that for a long time this is nothing new and they get by with it . its not good sitting behind people with their cell phone on talking loud texting with their phone light shining and distracting your views and trying to hear what the people are saying in the movie . the theater people do not do anything about it . The reason I think they don't stop that is because the people are bringing in the money so therefore they cater to the majority of people who do not respect other people watching the movie . It is best to wait and watch the movie at home.
ReplyDeleteGo to a premium movie house where you are banned from using your phone and ushers will remove you immediately it costs more but you don't get this type of issue.
ReplyDeleteNo one has attention span anymore.
ReplyDeleteBecause they’re inconsiderate, self-absorbed douchebags?
ReplyDeleteGet up and ask for refund. Enough do it, it’ll stop
ReplyDeleteI'm guessing it's a generational thing
ReplyDeleteI'm an AMC AList member so I go to at least one movie a week and it does seem generational, just in reverse. It's almost always people my age (44) or older. I have noticed a couple younger folks, but they at least have the courtesy to change the brightness on their screens to the lowest setting.
DeleteOlder folks...max brightness. They also like to use their phone flashlight to find their seats.
I will always say something if I see this
ReplyDeletelol
DeleteFor real
As we all should
DeleteTHANK YOU! That's how bad habits become the norm: when no one calls them out
DeleteCause the movie is boring lol
ReplyDeleteNot only that, but why don’t people learn how to hold their phones HORIZONTALLY when taking a video?!?! I don’t know anyone who has a TV or computer monitor that has a vertical aspect ratio.
ReplyDeleteit’s for tik tok.
Deletemost content is then viewed on that same phone, anyway
DeleteWhich, like 'Twatter,' I refuse to use.
DeleteStill looks better when it's horizontal.
DeleteThey should just ban mobiles altogether
ReplyDeleteThat would be rather annoying, right in front of the screen while try to watch a film
ReplyDeleteSame as concerts and stuff now no dancing and having fun just stand filming
ReplyDeleteBecause they are brainless, ignorant and won't ever succeed in life? Asking for a friend.
ReplyDeleteIf it is in my line of sight, I ask them to get it out of my line of sight. If they don’t comply, I take it from them and give it to the manager of the theatre
ReplyDeletehttps://youtu.be/YeuvIcqTugA
ReplyDeleteAnother reason I will never go into another movie theater ever.
ReplyDeletewasnt that the last thing the unibomber said 😂
DeleteDon't know, and don't care what serial killers say or think
DeleteBecause everyone is retarded these days
ReplyDeleteEver heard of a fire stick?
ReplyDeleteRetardation
ReplyDeleteBecause no one is being removed from the room, as they should.
ReplyDeleteDon´t know how things are where you live... in Brazil, nobody does nothing. And if we go try to find someone, we loose more of the movie... result: my wife and i don´t go anymore to the theaters.
Deletepeople have a lot shorter attention span. i saw people checking their phone constantly in the theater. it drives me crazy.
ReplyDeleteWe’ve forgotten how to human. Everyone thinks they’re still in their living rooms still. Go ahead and call me a boomer, but phones have no place in the theater. If you’re so important that you can’t stay away from your phone, most movies are available to stream within a couple of months of their first run.
ReplyDeleteIf this doesn’t get shut down whole generations, from birthdate around 1985 and earlier will stop attending and that will be the end for theaters as they are already struggling.
ReplyDeleteFortunate to have Alamo Drafthouse theaters Austin enforcing this longstanding policy scrupulously, as they always have.
ReplyDeleteYou talk? You text? One warning, then you are thrown out. As it should be. If it were up to me, I’d make it a lifetime ban but I am a curmudgeon. https://i.imgur.com/TNZEnyp.jpg
That’s one of the reasons I hate going to cinema
ReplyDeletePathetic
ReplyDeletehttps://youtu.be/YeuvIcqTugA
ReplyDelete