I completely agree with this whole argument! I went to see a Hannah Gadsby comedy show (amazing and hilarious) last year, and they required everyone to put their phones in these locked pouches that would only be unlocked after the show while leaving. It was so lovely to be free of any temptation to check my phone, and of course it was great to not have to see other people pulling out their phones to take photos or videos or just scroll on social media and text. You mostly mentioned the scrolling and texting, but at live shows and concerts I would say even more annoying is when people just hold up their phone for long periods taking videos they'll never watch and that take us all out of the experience of the moment. So I do think pretty much all events, from movies to plays to comedy shows to concerts, should have the no-phone policy.
As far as the length of movies, I agree overall but with an important caveat. We need to bring back intermissions! Indian films are all really long, but they also always have an intermission. Titanic had an intermission. 2001: A Space Odyssey had an intermission. Lawrence of Arabia had an intermission. I would venture to guess that all movies over 2 hours 30 minutes had an intermission until somewhere around the year 2000. For some reason the practice vanished, and the only American movie since then I can remember having an intermission was The Hateful Eight in its 70 mm "Roadshow Edition." I think if Killers of the Flower Moon had an intermission, way more people would have seen it in the theater, and it would also reduce people's issues with being away from their phones for so long. What if we had a no-phone policy while the movie is playing, but phones were allowed during the intermission? I think that would work well. Intermissions also cut down on people leaving the movie to go to the bathroom at random times, which is distracting, since people would know they have that opportunity halfway through the movie. What do you think?
I completely agree with this whole argument! I went to see a Hannah Gadsby comedy show (amazing and hilarious) last year, and they required everyone to put their phones in these locked pouches that would only be unlocked after the show while leaving. It was so lovely to be free of any temptation to check my phone, and of course it was great to not have to see other people pulling out their phones to take photos or videos or just scroll on social media and text. You mostly mentioned the scrolling and texting, but at live shows and concerts I would say even more annoying is when people just hold up their phone for long periods taking videos they'll never watch and that take us all out of the experience of the moment. So I do think pretty much all events, from movies to plays to comedy shows to concerts, should have the no-phone policy.
As far as the length of movies, I agree overall but with an important caveat. We need to bring back intermissions! Indian films are all really long, but they also always have an intermission. Titanic had an intermission. 2001: A Space Odyssey had an intermission. Lawrence of Arabia had an intermission. I would venture to guess that all movies over 2 hours 30 minutes had an intermission until somewhere around the year 2000. For some reason the practice vanished, and the only American movie since then I can remember having an intermission was The Hateful Eight in its 70 mm "Roadshow Edition." I think if Killers of the Flower Moon had an intermission, way more people would have seen it in the theater, and it would also reduce people's issues with being away from their phones for so long. What if we had a no-phone policy while the movie is playing, but phones were allowed during the intermission? I think that would work well. Intermissions also cut down on people leaving the movie to go to the bathroom at random times, which is distracting, since people would know they have that opportunity halfway through the movie. What do you think?