Theater will encourage cellphone use
If you can't beat 'em, join 'em, the manager of a new concert and theater venue apparently believes.
When we had a recent post about whether cellphones should be banned in movie theaters, we got plenty of comments like this:
I am sick and tired of seeing the bright light on the phone when someone is texting. There was a stupid teen who kept texting her friend when I went to see Shrek the musical. It was aggravating and if she didn't want to be there, she should have stayed home.
Cellphones are banned in some theaters but they won't be in the Tateuchi Center when it opens in Bellevue, Wash., in 2014. The theater, with a 2,000-seat concert hall and a smaller venue, will be "encouraging patrons to send texts and update their Twitter and Facebook accounts to their heart's content," The New York Times reports. It will even have a special in-house antenna and may distribute tiny screens to dim phone lights.
We heard about it on NPR this morning. "Resistance is futile," Renee Montagne said.
Loud conversations -- or any, perhaps -- won't be permitted. Hopefully patrons will have the sense not to give the plot twists of plays away.
John Haynes, theater executive director, told the Times that mobile access will be welcomed by the people -- hipper, younger types -- the theater hopes to attract. Post continues below.
"That's a reference to Bellevue's legions of technology geeks, many of whom work at nearby companies such as Microsoft, Expedia and InfoSpace," GeekWire explains.
Is this what we can look forward to, as mobile devices become more integral in our lives?
Notably, Fandango has a new app that gains you access to the movie theater simply by swiping your phone. "Mobile Ticket is launching at select Regal Theater screens across the country just in time for the release of 'Breaking Dawn,'" Mashable says. Leaving it on inside the theater sounds like a next logical step to some.
Said one commenter at GeekWire:
This is great news for the connected! Cell phone coverage inside Benaroya Hall is appallingly bad. Most of my texts are undeliverable, which harms my engagement with the performance. I'm glad Bellevue is embracing technological progress.
Another said, in part, "this is one of the most ridiculous things I've ever heard of."
Is Renee Montagne right? Is this the unavoidable wave of the future or simply an isolated bad idea?
More on MSN Money:
Right on Moneyhawk! Next thing businesses need to do is accommodate and encouage rude behavior from customers and patrons. That way, they are allowing customers to be who they are without restrictions and feed the ME ego....because it's all about me unless it's about taking responsibility for ones actions; then it's about YOU.
Bright decision there.
yes... go ahead and attract the younger hipper crowd...and encourage cell use.
You'll also drive away any responsible people who want to come to a movie.
it'll end up a drama ridden trashy place...
you might as well just open up a teen club with free wifi, charge admission
and have a big screen tv playing.
you'll get the same results
"blocking all cell phones within a radius doesnt sound very smart, what if there is an emergency?"
You do what people did for the past 50-100 years or more. You let people know where you are going and they can simply call the theatre to let them know there is an emergency. Its this entire self important generation that gets me. Facebook, cell phones. People tweet their daily lives like anyone really gives a crap. I think I can safely say that 99.9999 to the infintesmal phone calls or texts people get are stupid stuff (hey how you doing, oh yea, just watching a movie) kind of calls. I'd bet that maybe 1 in a million calls are "emergency" calls. And yes, they do make blockers that can block signals within so much of a radikus of the person who carries the blocker. I highly advocate their usage in places such theatres. Of course, those who still end up texting, nothing like an "accidental" dropping of your soft drink to soak them to get them to leave the theatre. That works like a charm.
I'm in this "connected" demo and I can tell you that my peers like the Geekwire poster who have to text in order to be engaged with a performance aren't there to see a show - it's all about the act of going so they can blog about it. Nerds will be nerds I guess.
The lights from phones are annoying and distracting - which harms MY engagement.
Most of my texts are undeliverable, which harms my engagement with the performance.
I would display my blocker proudly on the end of my table if they were legal.
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