I have a lot of respect for Mr Harris having just followed his career (not on social media) and buying tickets to this play. As a 23 yo, I took his response more as "Phones are everywhere nowadays and people are constantly on them, there are worse things going on" rather than a "I don't care if you disrupt others enjoyment of a performance if you're my friend". Now, I disagree with this, phones shouldn't be used at all during the performance. But, that is just how I took his response. I somewhat understand, as I know a lot of people my age don't get distracted by others on their phone since "we" are typically on our phones just as much, but not in a theatre. Obviously can't speak for everyone or Jeremy, but this is my take on it.