Going to the movies used to be a time for quiet enjoyment of a movie in a darkened theater, but these days, you put up with noisy children, people talking, cell phones ringing, and lights from cell phones. Do people realize the light those little cell phones put out? If you're sitting behind someone texting or checking their messages, it is a really blinding situation. One little cell phone can take your eyes and your mind off the movie, totally disrupting your movie experience for which you forked over hard earned cash! At the cost of a movie these days, I want to enjoy it. Don't you?
When I saw WALL E last weekend, there was a person two rows in front of me texting. For at least five minutes during the movie, she held her phone up to her eye level. I really was aware of how bright those little cell phone screens can be! I was completely distracted. The shiny little screen kept calling my attention to it, and, frankly, I found it hard to focus my eyes on the movie screen with that light shining into the corner of my eye. Eventually, I had to position my hand up under my eye to block it out. I noticed that three people in the row in front of me were doing the same.
I might think this is a unique incident, but, alas, I am a fairly frequent movie-goer. There hasn't been a movie lately that hasn't been interrupted by a cell phone light or its ringing, despite the theater's pleas to turn our phones off. It brings up a matter of good manners and thoughtfulness toward others. Just because you can text anywhere doesn't mean you should. Just because you can talk on your cell phone anywhere doesn't mean you should carry on a conversation in a movie theater. If a conversation is truly that important, then it seems to me you should leave the theater out of courtesy to others.
The worrisome thing in this is many people's lack of consideration for others. It seems today that most everyone is totally consumed with themselves. We are not a mannerly people anymore. We don't consider others more important or even as important as ourselves. Add these new personal technologies we have and are able to use in public places, and we have a whole new way to be selfish and unmannerly. I'm sure we've all seen misuse of cell phones, iPods, games, and even small computers, so we can probably relate. In addition to the tech part of it, we have people that still seem to think they are much more important than the rest of us that they can carry on a conversation in the middle of a movie with no regard for anyone around.
This brings up another aspect of this dilemma. What is a right response to people's thoughtlessness and just plain rudeness in a movie theater? It seems to me that people have misunderstood the meaning of “freedom” to mean, “I can say or do whatever and whatever I want to do”, instead of realizing our “freedom” means personal responsibility to follow rules and regulations. We should govern ourselves, but, because people are sometimes lacking in that ability, we have laws, rules and regulations. After politely asking someone to turn off their cell phone or to not talk during the movie, we might be greeted with belligerence and rudeness. We seem to have lost our respect and thoughtfulness for others and their rights.
A scene in WALL*E shows a human realizing that she's spent her whole life with her nose in a computer l screen, while her whole life is passing before her unnoticed. She is watching life, instead of living it! Those cell phone users missed the movie message of not being distracted from living life through technology and convenience by using technology and convenience. Ironic, isn't it? We don't realize we are being distracted, even by movies, so that relationships are put on a back burner. Relationships - family, friends, other people - those same people we have begun to be so rude to and thoughtless of. Hmmm… I wonder if there is a connection... Maybe I should ask my heart instead of my computer!
