The Hollywood Reporter:
Attendees at any of Chappelle’s 13 sold-out Thalia Hall performances will be greeted by staffers handing out gray smartphone sleeves, available in three sizes. They are then instructed to place their phones inside the sleeves and fasten them, at which point they are welcome to carry them inside the venue.
As soon as they enter the “no-phone zone,” however, the pouches will have locked shut, preventing anyone from firing off so much as a winking emoji. Need to make a call or send an email? No problem. Simply leave the designated zone (and head, say, to the lobby bar), and, as you move past several strategically placed stations, the pouches can now magically be unlocked.
This is an interesting use of technology to defeat technology. In a broad sense, I’m all for it and can see this being extended to many other events. I was at a concert a few months ago and could barely see the artist because of all the smartphone screens being held up, recording the music. It’s incredibly annoying. I get the idea that attendees want to “capture the moment” but people have taken it way beyond that impulse.
Of what sort? As the article says, “Simply leave the designated zone”.
Not everyone in the building will be in the “no phone zone”.
Oh yeah, let’s just forget the whole thing—because SOMEBODY, SOMEDAY may have to make an emergency call. Right.
In the mean time, we just put up with everyone’s rudeness as they text and call and yap yap during a performance whose tickets cost an arm and a leg and the otherwise special occasion has now been trashed.
No. Emphatically no.
I applaud Chappelle’s move. Pity it had to be done this way. People used to give have half a shit about others and just practiced good manners on their own.
I hate this idea and I’m not entirely sure why. Maybe I don’t like the idea of someone telling me what to do, or treating me like a child. If I’m out with my wife and my kids are home, I want them to be able to text me.
nonsense. civilization got by just fine without needing immediate access to your cell phone at all times.
also, terrisost risk is a red herring — statistically so improbable it’s not even worth mentioning. heart attacks kill more people.
yes, and a meteorite could smash into your car! heavens!
his comment wasn’t rude. it just wasn’t what you wanted to read. big difference.
tough cookies. it isn’t your show. and plenty of people have ruined it for everyone.
All those false equivalences you’re churning out make me think you’re just reciting a lower-third crawl on CNN.
I’m totally on-board with this idea. The degree to which this could improve public entertainment events for me might get me to attend more of them.
So what? If Chappelle doesn’t want his work recorded, he has the right to take steps to prevent such a thing, too.
I should have said “arguing to the extreme” instead.
“…people survived just fine without ambulances and hospitals, so let’s just get rid of them…” was a particularly entertaining bit, and sounded awfully familiar. Are you possibly a reincarnation of my late mother? She was a hoot. 😉
Yes, there’d still be assholes in every crowd, but they’d have fewer ways to behave poorly in public.
Sometimes people who were raised by helicopter parents to be the center of every moment of attention need to be helped along in their upbringing.
Yes, claiming kyron said something that he didn’t certainly doesn’t make sense.
Did you stop and think for a moment that he world can get by without you for a couple of hours? Not just the outside world on the Internet, but even the people inside the theater with you can get by without you just fine for a couple of hours.
There are ushers in the theater who can respond to the needs of audience members, including calling medical personnel or dealing with other emergencies. And there are security people at the theater who can respond to any security issues. There are actual cops there.
Your one and only job when you go to a live event is to be an Audience Member. Something that many, many people are failing at miserably today, and it sounds like you might be one of them. You’re just supposed to show up without too much stink on you and be as quiet as humanly possible. Not just quiet in sound, but also quiet in terms of the distraction you might cause to everyone else that you are participating in the event with for those couple of hours, including the people who are on stage.
If you don’t want to do that, then don’t go to a live event. Go to a park and sit by yourself and use your phone.
or they could do like my old job did. Hear a phone or see a phone or camera out and the stage went dark and the house lights came up until the party in question removed themselves from the audience, with no refund per the terms of buying a ticket.
and yes folks had ample reminders to put phones on silent etc.