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相信每个人都有过这样的经历：买了电影票和可乐爆米花，坐下来准备好好欣赏期待已久的电影。突然漆黑的电影院里闪起一道亮光，响起刺耳的铃声，“喂？”把人吓一跳的同时，让原本沉醉于电影里的你一下子跌落出来，好不容易收拾心情把注意力重新放回屏幕上，不远处又一个手机屏幕亮起来！针对这一令人抓狂的现象，电影院又该如何应对呢？
It’s become a sadly common experience at this point： a night out at the movies， a fortune shelled out on tickets and snacks，1 suddenly ruined by someone in the audience taking out their phone. Some theater chains recognize how annoying this problem is for viewers： The Alamo Drafthouse has a zero-tolerance policy and will eject any patron distracting viewers with their light-up screen.2 But not every company is following suit—according to the new CEO of the theater chain AMC， the battle against moviegoers who use their phones has already been lost.3
“When you tell a 22-year-old to turn off the phone， don’t ruin the movie， they hear please cut off your left arm above the elbow，”4 Adam Aron said in an interview with Variety. “You can’t tell a 22-year-old to turn off their cellphone. That’s not how they live their life.” You heard him： The youngsters5 simply can’t sit still for two hours without checking their phones， so we might as well abandon hope. But one of the chief advantages of the theatrical experience is being removed from such distractions， and in a time when cinema chains are being threatened by expanded home-viewing options， they should try to promote that distinction， rather than abandon it.6
The biggest problem with cellphone use in a theater is that it doesn’t just distract someone’s seat-mates； the annoyance of a screen lighting up is unavoidable to anyone in the rows behind the phone user as well.7 I’ve watched someone go through their emails for a good 10 minutes while I was sitting 10 rows behind them， and all I could do was wait for someone nearby to tap them on the shoulder.8 At a recent viewing of Zoolander 2， I sat next to someone who excitedly took out their mobile device， opened their Notes app， and wrote down the name of every celebrity cameo in the film.9 （If you haven’t seen Zoolander 2， it has a lot of celebrity cameos.） The film writer Matt Singer recently recalled10 someone taking pictures of the screen during a 3D movie， perhaps unaware that their phone didn’t also have 3D glasses on.
As cellphone use has proliferated， movie theaters have divided into two camps： Smaller businesses like the Alamo Drafthouse that make a point of strictly enforcing behavioral rules for its theatergoers， and larger chains like Regal and AMC that remind viewers to turn off their phones before the movie starts but pay no real heed after that.11 When Aron， who became CEO of AMC a few months ago， opines on encouraging texting， he’s acknowledging the truth that unchecked phone use is already rampant in cineplexes around the country.12
It’s become a sadly common experience at this point： a night out at the movies， a fortune shelled out on tickets and snacks，1 suddenly ruined by someone in the audience taking out their phone. Some theater chains recognize how annoying this problem is for viewers： The Alamo Drafthouse has a zero-tolerance policy and will eject any patron distracting viewers with their light-up screen.2 But not every company is following suit—according to the new CEO of the theater chain AMC， the battle against moviegoers who use their phones has already been lost.3
“When you tell a 22-year-old to turn off the phone， don’t ruin the movie， they hear please cut off your left arm above the elbow，”4 Adam Aron said in an interview with Variety. “You can’t tell a 22-year-old to turn off their cellphone. That’s not how they live their life.” You heard him： The youngsters5 simply can’t sit still for two hours without checking their phones， so we might as well abandon hope. But one of the chief advantages of the theatrical experience is being removed from such distractions， and in a time when cinema chains are being threatened by expanded home-viewing options， they should try to promote that distinction， rather than abandon it.6
The biggest problem with cellphone use in a theater is that it doesn’t just distract someone’s seat-mates； the annoyance of a screen lighting up is unavoidable to anyone in the rows behind the phone user as well.7 I’ve watched someone go through their emails for a good 10 minutes while I was sitting 10 rows behind them， and all I could do was wait for someone nearby to tap them on the shoulder.8 At a recent viewing of Zoolander 2， I sat next to someone who excitedly took out their mobile device， opened their Notes app， and wrote down the name of every celebrity cameo in the film.9 （If you haven’t seen Zoolander 2， it has a lot of celebrity cameos.） The film writer Matt Singer recently recalled10 someone taking pictures of the screen during a 3D movie， perhaps unaware that their phone didn’t also have 3D glasses on.
As cellphone use has proliferated， movie theaters have divided into two camps： Smaller businesses like the Alamo Drafthouse that make a point of strictly enforcing behavioral rules for its theatergoers， and larger chains like Regal and AMC that remind viewers to turn off their phones before the movie starts but pay no real heed after that.11 When Aron， who became CEO of AMC a few months ago， opines on encouraging texting， he’s acknowledging the truth that unchecked phone use is already rampant in cineplexes around the country.12