January 1st, 2010 | 
Author: 
I just saw this story on Yahoo! and it had many things that raised my eyebrows but one in particular made my blood pressure rise.
I recently went to see a movie at a local Cinemark. And several times in the movie I saw cell phones light up and once a phone rang and an old woman answered it. FOR CRYING OUT LOUD PEOPLE! When did your F’ing cell phone become more important than personal courtesy? Why can you not go 2 hours with out taking a call? If you must MUST have your cell phone, set it to vibrate. Then if it rings, get up and walk out before pulling it out of your pocket. Then answer it in the hallway outside of the theater. I would LOVE if the theaters would install a thing that would jam any cell signals. That would be awesome.
Nevertheless, here is the one bit of this article that enraged me. Basically it says that theaters don’t care if they have cell phones in the auditorium because the bulk of offenders are teens and they need the teens money. They don’t want a backlash of theater goers. Here is an excerpt from that article.
8. “Actually, your neighbor’s cell doesn’t bother us that much.”
We’ve all been there: sitting in the theater, our attention consumed by the drama unfolding on screen, only to have the spell broken by a ringing cell phone or the distracting glow of a text message. And with the cultural shift toward personal technology well under way, such disturbances are becoming a regular part of the theater experience, says Toon van Beeck, senior analyst at market-research firm IBISWorld. “People are so glued to their cell phones that it’s become a big problem for theaters,” he says.
A major check on theaters attempting to police these and other sorts of audience disturbances is the fear of customer backlash, says van Beeck. Movie houses don’t want to lose younger audiences — who are primarily responsible for disruptions — by cracking down too hard. “But they’ve got to at least show the baby boomers that they’re trying,” says van Beeck. Kerasotes Theatres, a Midwest chain with 94 theaters, has taken steps toward offering an escape from rowdy crowds with its “enchanted evening” policy. At select locations on Friday and Saturday nights, no one under the age of 17 is permitted without an adult into movies that start after 9 p.m. The policy, says a spokesperson for Kerasotes, is intended to get people to attend the movies as a family. “When Mom and Dad are around, everyone tends to be on their best behavior.”
Rage!
Craig while I agree with on your point there is something to be said about this. Chris and I have had many a discussion pertaining to the nature of cell phone rudeness. Should theaters be more proactive in the fight of cell annoyances yes. Will they? Most likely not. Let’s say hypothetically someone was told to have there cell phone off and they did. Let’s also say that in the event of that cell phone being off an emergency for whatever reason happens and “said individual” missed that call and an unimaginable horrible thing happened. In this day and age of everybody suing everybody for whatever reason chances are “said individual” might try and hold that theater accountable for missing such a phone call and say they caused them mental anguish. The amount of lawsuits that would ensue would be ridiculous. I’m not disagreeing with you Craig but, cellphone jamming isn’t gonna happen anytime soon in a theater near you.
The cell phone problem is huge! Even the theaters that try to sop it can’t. Teenagers have zero respect for theater employees, and some adults are just as bad. I hate cell phones in theaters. I have contemplated carrying a jammer with me so I don’t have to deal with it.