Mobile phones at gigs/theatre : Fri Apr 12, 2013 10:10 am  

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-22113326 It's not mentioned in this article specifically but my personal bugbear about mobiles is the little pools of light that flicker on and off in one's peripheral vision whilst watching a play, most often ruining the mood and effect. Texting and browsing whilst in a theatre, during the play, should be a chucking-out offence IMHO. At music gigs it depends on the style music, I guess.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-22113326 It's not mentioned in this article specifically but my personal bugbear about mobiles is the little pools of light that flicker on and off in one's peripheral vision whilst watching a play, most often ruining the mood and effect. Texting and browsing whilst in a theatre, during the play, should be a chucking-out offence IMHO. At music gigs it depends on the style music, I guess.

Re: Mobile phones at gigs/theatre : Fri Apr 12, 2013 10:16 am  

I'd agree, recently at the cinema a fellow came in late, sat a seat away from me and proceeded to check his emails and text people for the next ten minutes right in my peripheral vision.

I politely asked him to desist, and to be fair, he did move without complaint.

I read an article recently where it stated that some New York theatres have started to have "cell phone zones" usually in the wings where people can tweet and blog to their hearts content.

Can't really see the point in attending a live event and then fannying around with an electronic device, but, each to their own.

Re: Mobile phones at gigs/theatre : Fri Apr 12, 2013 10:16 am  

El Barbudo wrote:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-22113326

It's not mentioned in this article specifically but my personal bugbear about mobiles is the little pools of light that flicker on and off in one's peripheral vision whilst watching a play, most often ruining the mood and effect.
Texting and browsing whilst in a theatre, during the play, should be a chucking-out offence IMHO.

At music gigs it depends on the style music, I guess.

Makes me think of an article I was reading the other day by someone who had penned guidelines for US visitors to Europe on photography in churches (yes, really). And it was, in essence, saying switch off everything that pings or flickers.

Completely agree on theatre – and I think you're right on music too.

Re: Mobile phones at gigs/theatre : Fri Apr 12, 2013 11:14 am  

Once upon a time I loved going to gigs, but the mobile phone has single handily made it nigh on impossible for me to enjoy them any more.

I could cope with faux fans, but to try and watch a live act through a sea of handsets is tantamount to heresy.

I don’t buy the theory that it’s like a memory of the occasion, the live performance cannot be replicated.

Re: Mobile phones at gigs/theatre : Fri Apr 12, 2013 11:39 am  

The general issue is that the cellphone has become an appendage of the body of millions of young people and they can't even imagine life without it switched on. The exponential growth of apps only feeds the addiction (and it is addiction pure and simple, of a similar kind to video gaming).

Many years back I posted some comments about holidaymakers with camcorders which where the then latest thing. Many folk could be seen walking around with (usually the father) permanently filming every banal moment.

Now I love my photography, but learned that to have a holiday, you need to be in the holiday. And if you spend it with camera in hand, you're not having teh holiday, you're an unpaid recorder of the holiday. You're not doing things in teh holiday; you're filming other people doing things that you should be enjoying yourself, and for little point, since the last thing anyone ever wants to do is actually watch someone else's holiday video. Photos, in modest quantity, are not too bad a chore though invariably as crap as the video.

Now that every phone is a video recorder, the current young generation have the same obsession. But you certainly can't get into and can't fully enjoy a gig when all the time you're stood there like a prat with phone aloft, like half the other people in the room. And of course for the few who are NOT recording it, the sea of raised phones and shining screens is a huge distraction and annoyance.

Recording, and any recording equipment is still formally prohibited in most venues, but the prohibition has been overtaken by technology and weight of numbers ignoring it, and so most venues just let them get on with it. That's a shame, but practically, I don't know that they could do anything to enforce a ban given every single person has a cellphone, and you can't either ban them from venues no take them off 5000 people.

There must, by definition, be many people on here who have video'd gigs on their phones. I wonder what percentage of these videos are ever watched, and by whom. If you do watch it, don't you wish you'd left your phone in your pocket and actually watched and enjoyed the gig fully live, like what you paid for, instead?

Re: Mobile phones at gigs/theatre : Fri Apr 12, 2013 11:41 am  

Mintball wrote:

Makes me think of an article I was reading the other day by someone who had penned guidelines for US visitors to Europe on photography in churches (yes, really). And it was, in essence, saying switch off everything that pings or flickers.

Completely agree on theatre – and I think you're right on music too.

That goes for the cinema too. If a person cannot go 2 hours without looking at their phone then they really have a serious problem. Anyone seen with it on should have it taken away from them and smashed.

Re: Mobile phones at gigs/theatre : Fri Apr 12, 2013 11:50 am  

My only problem is the utter pointlessness of it, the images you get are uniformly terrible and you struggle to make anything at all out and the audio quality is equally rubbish.

If you were getting a snippet of the event I could kind of understand it. But you don’t, you get a mess of an image with terrible audio.

Re: Mobile phones at gigs/theatre : Fri Apr 12, 2013 11:54 am  

SmokeyTA wrote:

My only problem is the utter pointlessness of it, the images you get are uniformly terrible and you struggle to make anything at all out and the audio quality is equally rubbish.

If you were getting a snippet of the event I could kind of understand it. But you don’t, you get a mess of an image with terrible audio.

You say this, but you could say exactly the same about the awful holiday photos that the vast majority of people take. The fact is, they actually honestly don't know they are producing utter crap.

Re: Mobile phones at gigs/theatre : Fri Apr 12, 2013 11:57 am  

Holiday photo standard id accept, at least you can generally make out what you are looking at even if its not particularly interesting.

When people show me photos or videos of gigs I usually have to ask what it is im looking at

Re: Mobile phones at gigs/theatre : Fri Apr 12, 2013 12:07 pm  

SmokeyTA wrote:

...

When people show me photos or videos of gigs I usually have to ask what it is im looking at

Fool! Surely, that will only encourage them to start rabbiting on about it thinking you're actually interested! i recommend giving it a minute or maybe two, and then develop a need for the toilet.