I’d much rather have that. In a theatre you’re a vague dark shadow, and especially as theatres make the shift into more premium experiences they’re giving more room to walk between the aisles. It’s hardly an inconvenience, unlike the annoying glare of even a minimally bright screen.

I’m not on a high horse, but I’d…

Counterpoint: if it’s bad you can step out of the theatre to check the time. A moving shadow is much less distracting than a glowing beacon of distraction.

And countering the inevitable ‘but he’s not bothering anyone’

I once threw a balled up (clean) napkin at a guy who kept checking his phone during a movie. Hit him right upside the head. He got unbelievably pissed about it.

I was at the movies recently and the woman behind me was loudly commenting on the characters in the movie. At one point she had a negative judgment of a teenage girl on screen: “SOME PEOPLE THINK THEY’RE THE ONLY PERSON IN THE WORLD.”

I mostly go to the movies at Alamo Drafthouses and the managers there don’t fuck around, they will throw you out for having your phone out during the movie and encourage customers to report it to staff.

You friend is doing God’s work.

“is it bothering you?”

Dude a couple cubes over from me will sometimes decides to play his music out loud late in the afternoon after most everyone else has left. While I’m tempted on those occasions to yell “Put on your headphones, shit-sack! I know you have them, motherfucker!”, I stop myself when I realize that hearing his shitty music…

That’s a good flight attendant because I hardly EVER see them doing this on flights. I’ve asked a guy sitting across the aisle from me to put plugs in. Guy was late 50s, should know better. He asked, “is it bothering you?” I said, “Yes, yes it’s bothering me.”

My phone ringer has never been on. I don’t understand people who leave all these bells and whistles activated. Whenever an old person at my office sends an email, it sounds like a rocket launching into space. I forgot that is setup by default until I was jarred awake in a meeting the other day. CRAZY.

I was on a bus with 3 other lonesome strap holders today and the driver stopped the damn bus in the street to walk back and yell at a dude for watching a video without headphones. To me, he’s the real troops.

Me Too (the old man-cranky kind). And while we’re at it: Hold your phones to your ear and mute the speaker, you idiots holding your phones like an alien artifact that apparently have to be yelled at.

My personal favorite was a guy at Target playing music from his shitty phone’s speakers while he was wearing giant Beats headphones around his neck as a fashion statement.

I live in a tiny village in England. There’s one local guy who comes in the pub pretty often and stands at the end of the bar playing games on his phone with the volume cranked all the fucking way up. The folks who run the pub don’t say anything, presumably since they’re barely hanging on and don’t want to lose a…

This has been happening on the subway with increasing frequency. If you really feel the need to watch Blade: Trinity on your phone while on a crowded 7 train, please get some $10 headphones at Walgreens first.

Can I get a hate addendum for cell-phone-left-at-desk-with-ringer-on?

I have a friend who is a flight attendant, who increasingly spends his time admonishing parents that, yes, darling Nigel must wear headphones. And countering the inevitable ‘but he’s not bothering anyone’ with,’yeah, he is, and anyway, them’s the rules, so ‘phone it or stow it, pops!’

Speaking as a fellow cranky old man, I heartily endorse this take.