Texting: The New Heckling

It's about stand-up comics bothered by texting in a darkened theater, but I figured this crowd might agree:

"People are silently firing up their smartphone screens in darkened theaters everywhere. At the movies. During plays. At concerts. And it shows no sign of going away.

"I always ask, 'What are you texting right now?'" said Burr by phone from Los Angeles. "One guy said, 'I just texted someone and told them you were funny.' It's like, well, can't you do that after the show? It's like they have to — in real time — talk about what's going on their lives."

That compulsion is real, and there are a number of societal, psychological and physiological reasons more and more people are reaching for their smartphones without giving it a second thought — frequently to the irritation of those around them.

"I always say, 'You're lit up like you're in "Avatar" all of a sudden,'" said Burr, prompting him to wonder during his act why "half the world is acting as if they're documenting events for a magazine they're not working for.""
The incredibly rude becomes normal

wah wah wah. really? get over it and stop self-aggrandizing. pay attention to your world and stay out of others if you have nothing nice to say. complaining about texting is just another reason for you people to look down your nose at others. ugh! :p

Texting in a dark room filled with other people is rude. Period. The bright light of your phone is distracting to other people trying to watch a show. If it's a live performance, it's dangerous to the actors as the bright light could distract them enough to throw off their judgment and injure them. This isn't a "you're looking down on me mind your own business" issues, it's a "you're a rude little snit who has no regard for anyone else's experience but your own, gains some perspective" issue.

"wah wah wah. really? get over it and stop self-aggrandizing. pay attention to your world and stay out of others if you have nothing nice to say. complaining about texting is just another reason for you people to look down your nose at others. ugh! :p"

Wow, self-centered much?

Do you not even realize how annoying it is to have a light shining in your face in a darkened theatre?

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Ya think?

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In reference to the people who need to photo document everything, "look Im getting an ice cream cone, look Im getting a toilet seat at home depot." Who gives a f#@k?! This narcissism is insane. I've taken to becoming the troll who says, "no I dont want my photo taken when Im out to dinner with my friends or going out for a drink." Im a private person who loves intimacy and the incessant picture taking has fried my nerves.

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Social retardation = WINNING!

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I'm with BB. I remember seeing that one display in Times Square - I don't remember if it's still there; I saw it in mid-March - where different images of Times Square visitors are projected onto a tremendous screen that everyone can see. People stick out their tongues and act like buffoons as they pose for the picture of them that will be projected out onto the crowd.

What all of this constant photo-taking and gadgetry says to me is that someone out there wants all of us to get comfortable with our constantly being monitored - not only to get us comfortable with it, but to indeed engage our narcissism so that we actually learn to *enjoy* it.

It's the same thing as Facebook applications where people log in to say precisely where they are, or those tracking devices car insurance companies are giving out that can help decrease your rates by logging driving habits.

None of this makes me feel comfortable at all. Where is the privacy? Is anything off limits? The implications are very worrying.

Also, as far as cell phone lights and cameras being whipped out in a theatre, aren't we generally supposed to be going to the theatre not necessarily to escape reality, but to leave it aside for the length of the play, as the case may be? The production should be well-oiled enough that we do not feel or consider that we are in a theatre. The audience should be allowed "in." A neighbor texting on his cell phone destroys that intimacy and (as a great actress once described it) "innocence" that one is to hopefully experience in the theatre, and that goes not just for the audience but for the actors on stage.

It is only an observance, but I have noticed that technophobes often are more productive - and happy - when compared with the rest of us. I had the great pleasure of supporting one actress in an excellent play back in January, and she was on the brink of 50, seemed 40, handled a tour de force part with astonishing grace, discipline and professionalism, held her own (to put it very mildly) among a cast of mostly younger actors and actresses and yet did not own a computer, GPS, digital camera or know how to use her cell phone to text. She's practically in 1990, but she is far from suffering or unproductive.

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Updated On: 7/6/11 at 02:40 PM

I need to say something about what Rudy said about the ushers.

When I saw HOUSE OF BLUE LEAVES the other week, I was seated in the rear mezz and the ushers did not stop talking the entire show. Each time people would shush them or give glances back they would move a little further back and keep talking. Also, that damn door on the left side of the rear mezz where ushers go in and out and in and out and in and out for two and a half hours so they can talk and laugh is perhaps the most distracting thing in any theater I've ever been in. During intermission a woman came over to me and asked me if I wanted to change my seat because she knew how pissed I was. I looked around and only saw a few seats that were worse than where I was so I told her no and she just looked at me like "Well, your loss" and walked away. And the talking continued non stop through Act 2. I went on vacation the next day and didn't think about it but I really would like to file a complaint with someone about that because it wasn't the first time those ushers have had to be told to shut up during a performance. Should I send a letter to the house manager?

Jordan, I like to think if it had been me instead of you in that position, I would have stood up for myself and demanded to speak to someone in charge to complain. However, I can't be certain I would have done so. Not only does doing that force one to infringe on one's own pleasure of being there to see the show, but it also forces one to make a spectacle of oneself, and who wants to do that in a dark theatre?

In any event, what happened to you is terrible and way worse than what I experienced (when seeing "Joe Turner's Come and Gone" at the Belasco).

Another complaint I have about ushers lately - the younger, the more likely - is that they walk around a lot during acts, changing seats, alternating between standing and sitting, etc. Part of the job is to be *inconspicuous* while the curtain is up. Am I wrong? Why is this not being enforced? It's distracting. If you're restless, get another job.

When I went to see "The Importance of Being Earnest" last month I was also told by an usher in the lobby during one of the intermissions (during a not nearly sold-out matinee, mind you) to not go outside without my ticket, because they would check for them when we returned. One woman and me both went all the way back to our seats (mine was on the top floor of the venue), got our tickets, briefly went outside and came back in without that woman being there to check our tickets at all - a power-trip.

Just. Plain. Rude.

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"When I went to see "The Importance of Being Earnest" last month I was also told by an usher in the lobby during one of the intermissions (during a not nearly sold-out matinee, mind you) to not go outside without my ticket, because they would check for them when we returned. One woman and me both went all the way back to our seats (mine was on the top floor of the venue), got our tickets, briefly went outside and came back in without that woman being there to check our tickets at all - a power-trip.

Just. Plain. Rude."
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I'm confused. Are you saying the usher was rude for telling you that, since no one checked you? If she had told you that, and then someone WAS there and made you show them or refused to allow you back in without your tickets, would you still have thought the first usher was rude for telling you that?

I always take my ticket if I'm gonna go outside. I almost never need it, but I figure it's best (and painless) to err on the side of caution.

This thread made me relive my anger after I went to the movies this past weekend. I saw Midnight in Paris and there were about 20 people in the theater. I'd say 10 of them texted throughout the entire movie and 4 - 5 had cell phones ringing and were talking on phones.

I understand it's different that live theater because it's not like your disturbing the actors, but they certainly disturbed me and the few other people there who actually appeared to want to see a movie, shocking I know!

I went to the manager afterwards and was given a voucher for a free movie, I think that's what they do whenever someone complains. He said they'll look into it, I'm sure they'll do nothing. It makes much more financial sense for them to just offer me a free movie next time then anger a lot of their base. Same is true for live theater.

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