Tired of cell phones going off at a performance?- Page 5

[Sho-Tunes-R-Us]

Posted: 8/16/18 at 1:28am

I'm very happy that this original post of mine has stimulated varied opinions.  I'll be trying out the technology tomorrow evening when attending An Evening With Ellen Degeneres at San Francisco's Davies Symphony Hall.  Hope to see it in venues large and small one day soon.  Going to a live event - theatre, concerts, lectures, etc.?  Turn that phone off for the duration and LIVE IN THE MOMENT.  I'll get down off of my soapbox now.

[Sho-Tunes-R-Us]

Posted: 8/17/18 at 3:51am

Back from Ellen Degeneres and had a swell time.  The phone pouch check in/out went very smoothly for all concerned and took little time at all both entering and exiting the venue.  Perhaps five minutes total.  There was additional staff at Davies Symphony Hall specifically hired to assist with the pouches and I heard zero complaints from attendees.  Hope to see this technology available in many more venues very soon. 

[kdogg36]

Posted: 8/17/18 at 8:43am

Sho-Tunes-R-Us said: "Perhaps five minutes total.."

I'm glad you had a good experience at the show! But I have to say, five minutes would be far too long for me to happily tolerate if this system were implemented in Broadway theaters. Given the number of professional productions I see in a typical year, this would be an extra two hours or so of waiting around. And I'd rather tolerate the current level of cell phone usage than spend two extra hours a year waiting in line.

[dramamama611]

Posted: 8/17/18 at 9:00am

Sure, if you want to look at it that way. But really, what would you do with an extra 5 minutes a week? Likely nothing of substance.
(And waiting almost always FEELS longer than it actually is.)

How long do you wait for the subway, uber, the line at the market, food to be delivered at a restaurant, a red light? You're just used to them.

I'm not saying this is the perfect solution for bway, but it wouldn't ruffle my feathers at all.

[kdogg36]

Posted: 8/17/18 at 9:34am

dramamama611 said: "Sure, if you want to look at it that way. But really, what would you do with an extra 5 minutes a week? Likely nothing of substance.
(And waiting almost always FEELS longer than it actually is.)"

I agree that the extra five minutes is hardly a big deal in the grand scheme of things - but neither is cell phone usage in a theater. We're talking about rather advanced first-world problems on all sides here. 

Anyhow, I would personally be against any solution that inconvenienced nonviolators. But I doubt it would stop me from going to the theater.

[LxGstv]

Posted: 8/17/18 at 10:02am

My issue with this idea is not knowing if the cases are really clean or not... their website doesn’t mention if they are disposable or reusable, someone mentioned you drop them in a bin afterwards, which makes me believe they just reuse them... and their website makes no mention of a cleaning process between uses either... and given the fact that cell phones are 10 times dirtier than a toilet, I’m not sure I’d feel comfortable putting my phone in a potentially dirty pouch...

[JayElle]

Posted: 8/17/18 at 2:04pm

If folks would set their phones to airplane mode, they won't ring or receive text b/c it disables the radio signal. I like to take curtain call pix w/my phone, but I ensure the sound is off and airplane is on.  Never had an issue.  I agree...mostly will likely say they don't have one....or will bring a second phone to hide.  I always carry two phones for business reasons.

[vanbrig]

Posted: 8/17/18 at 4:09pm

LxGstv said: "My issue with this idea is not knowing if the cases are really clean or not... their website doesn’t mention if they are disposable or reusable, someone mentioned you drop them in a bin afterwards, which makes me believe they just reuse them... and their website makes no mention of a cleaning process between uses either... and given the fact that cell phones are 10 times dirtier than a toilet, I’m not sure I’d feel comfortable putting my phone in a potentially dirty pouch... "

Various articles on Google suggest that Yondr often rents the cases schools, productions, etc. So yeah, definitely reusable. 

[BroadwayGuy12]

Posted: 8/21/18 at 9:30am

JayElle said: "If folks would set their phones to airplane mode, they won't ring or receive text b/c it disables the radio signal. I like to take curtain call pix w/my phone, but I ensure the sound is off and airplane is on. Never had an issue. I agree...mostly will likely say they don't have one....or will bring a second phone to hide. I always carry two phones for business reasons."

Airplane mode may prevent noise from incoming calls/texts, but it doesn't entirely prevent phones from making noise. Sometimes people have alarms set that they forget about, and those can go off even if airplane mode is enabled. Same thing goes for reminders, and several other apps. 

Phones should be entirely shut off when entering a theatre. And you shouldn't need it to take curtain call pictures either, because that's illegal.

[LizzieCurry]

Posted: 8/21/18 at 9:58am

It's hard to argue for "that's illegal" when so many actors love to post them on their own social media accounts.

[BrodyFosse123]

Posted: 8/21/18 at 10:19am

5 minutes?!  You are SO wrong, amigo!   I just attended 2 tapings of the MURPHY BROWN reboot filming and they used this pouch.  All in all, it took less than 10 seconds combined - in and out.  

As the line is moving into the studio for security check, they repeatedly state to turn off your phones or set them on vibrate.  As you're walking in, they hand you the pouch, you slide your phone in, they snap it shut and you keep walking (5 seconds).  When you're leaving, a person standing at the exit unsnaps your pouch with a handheld device, you slide your phone out and drop the pouch into a container right in front of you and you're on your way.  No delay and all this is achieved AS you're walking.  It takes longer for them to go thru your bags at security.  

It would take 10 seconds combined for this to be done in Broadway houses as well.  It takes longer for ticket taker to look at your ticket than it does to put your phone in the pouch and have it snapped shut.  Exiting is exactly the same.  All this can be achieved by an usher so no extra personnel is required.  A small handheld device unlocks the pouch. Its not complex.   

[JSquared2]

Posted: 8/21/18 at 10:24am

BrodyFosse123 said: "5 minutes?! You are SO wrong, amigo! I just attended 2 tapings of the MURPHY BROWN reboot filming and they used this pouch. All in all, it took less than 10 seconds combined - in and out.

I doubt there were 1600+ people at the MURPHY BROWN taping (probably closer to 200?) --- so the time to get through this process at a Broadway show would be considerably longer.

[BrodyFosse123]

Posted: 8/21/18 at 10:34am

I doubt there were 1600+ people at the MURPHY BROWN taping (probably closer to 200?) --- so the time to get through this process at a Broadway show would be considerably longer.

Doubtful.  It would take the same amount of time as Broadway theatres have various exits so ushers and containers would be placed at every exit so the process is achieved as one is exiting.  Having an usher standing next to a ticket taker to hand out the pouch and snap it shut takes seconds.  Its the process that takes all of a few seconds, regardless of the amount of people.   

[SweetLips22]

Posted: 8/22/18 at 5:00pm

Australia vers. America re mobile/cell phones. Just spent 3 nights in packed theatres in Mebourne and as far as I could see, nobody ate/talked/saw 1 guy leave-near end of a row/ and absolutely NO mobile/cell phone disturbance.

There was a short, sensible announcement before curtain re turn off and no photos and that was it.

People around me checked for messages at interval so, why the difference?

I'm sure it happens here but I havn't experienced a problem.

[dramamama611]

Posted: 8/22/18 at 7:51pm

I dont experience it often, and I'm in NY theaters. None at Anastasia earlier today.

[vanbrig]

Posted: 8/22/18 at 8:56pm

Sho-Tunes-R-Us said: "Perhaps five minutes total."

BrodyFosse123 said: "5 minutes?! You are SO wrong, amigo! I just attended 2 tapings of the MURPHY BROWN reboot filming and they used this pouch. All in all, it took less than 10 seconds combined - in and out.

Oh my gosh, reading these two accounts, it almost sounds like these events were in different venues with different amounts of people and different staff, which led to the process taking different amounts of time. Who would’ve thought?! Dear lord, I don’t even know what to do with myself.

In all seriousness, it looks like the places that have implemented this process have been able to do it smoothly, which is good. I’ve yet to hear about it being used in a theatre like many on Broadway (large amounts of people all trying to get in/out through one entrance/exit with basically no lobby), but hopefully if it's implemented in one of those then the process is smooth there as well.

[James Kerrigan2]

Posted: 8/22/18 at 9:37pm

I wish they would do that for every show I remember when I saw SpongeBob there was this lady who was on her phone THE WHOLE ENTIRE SHOW it was so annoying. not only is that being rude t the actors and audience but also rude to yourself because then you just wasted all your money or another person's money on going on your phone instead of watching the show.

they should block all cellular data in the audience so people can't use their phones during the show or better yet put their phones in those cases.

[vanbrig]

Posted: 8/22/18 at 10:35pm

I'm not sure if blocking all cellular signals would work. Wouldn't that hinder the people working there from being able to use their phones backstage, respond to emergencies, and the like? Granted, I'm not an expert in this area, so I could be wrong.

 

Updated On: 8/22/18 at 10:35 PM

[Broadway Joe]

Posted: 8/23/18 at 12:03am

Pro tip for anyone firmly against this, stick a key through the pouch and rip, these things are junk and come apart easily.

I always turn my phone off at events, I'm more than capable of not having to be treated as a child because a few morons can't behave.

[Sho-Tunes-R-Us]

Posted: 8/23/18 at 12:06am

Broadway Joe said: "Pro tip for anyone firmly against this, stick a key through the pouch and rip, these things are junk and come apart easily.

I always turn my phone off at events, I'm more than capable of not having to be treated as a child because a few morons can't behave."

Have you personally used one?  I'm curious.

 

[Broadway Joe]

Posted: 8/23/18 at 12:12am

Sho-Tunes-R-Us said: "Broadway Joe said: "Pro tip for anyone firmly against this, stick a key through the pouch and rip, these things are junk and come apart easily.

I always turn my phone off at events, I'm more than capable of not having to be treated as a child because a few morons can't behave."

Have you personally used one? I'm curious.

"

Yup at a rock concert and these things were all over the floor cause people were doing this, they really aren't that hard to open at all.

[Olivia11]

Posted: 8/23/18 at 1:28am

Broadway Joe said: "....

I always turn my phone off at events, I'm more than capable of not having to be treated as a child because a few morons can't behave. "

THIS ^^^^^^^ X 100

Eject out the offender (lady at Spongebob above).  

For those of you that say it can’t be done because the offended will yell and scream for a refund but you’re more than willing to offend audience members that have done nothing wrong. Great thinking. 

[antonijan]

Posted: 8/23/18 at 1:32am

Ahoy! Ahoy!!

[OneSingularSensation2]

Posted: 8/23/18 at 11:34am

vanbrig said: "In all seriousness, it looks like the places that have implemented this process have been able to do it smoothly, which is good. I’ve yet to hear about it being used in a theatre like many on Broadway (large amounts of people all trying to get in/out through one entrance/exit with basically no lobby), but hopefully if it's implemented in one of those then the process is smooth there as well."

They were used at the Brooklyn Armory for the Jesus Christ Superstar dress rehearsal. It was part of the general security line, so it took awhile, but not to actually get phones in pouches - we were really just waiting for bags to be searched/to walk through metal detectors. The actual phone step was a couple seconds - phone off, put in pouch, snapped shut. It was quick and easy to get them opened on the way out as well. (Audience of ~1300, as far as I know)

The real obnoxious part for me was that I only brought a small clutch, and the giant phone pouch didn't fit in it the way my phone does, ha. Still, a minor inconvenience and one that was completely understandable as they didn't want footage to be leaked the night before a major live event.

[vanbrig]

Posted: 8/23/18 at 7:08pm

Interesting. Can't say I know much about the layout of the Brooklyn Amory as I have no need/desire to go there. I assume from your post that there's no area that was designated as a lobby, so I guess it's good that it worked there and bodes well for if they ever take this concept to Broadway.

Honestly, if I ever went to a Broadway show and they were using these, I could see myself being vaguely annoyed for a bit, because I'm not a child and I don't need phone policing. Also, I feel like a lot of people who overlook the no-phone policy would also be the ones likely to break the cases and use them anyway. But I'd obviously follow the policy without complaint because, again, I'm not a child and I can respect the decisions of the venue. However, I'm lucky enough to have encountered very few audience members causing problems on their phones (I've probably seen a hundred shows at this point, and I can think of only about four instances off the top of my head). For those who have run into more problems, this would be a welcome concept worth giving a try. I don't really much of a preference either way.