Signal Blockers in Cinemas
Comments: 9
Audiences in Japan are generally very good about making sure phones are turned off during screenings and performances, but there are still places where I think signal blockers should be used, and cinemas are definitely one of them.
Mobile phones (I don’t own one — have I mentioned that ;-) provide an excellent example of those rifts that occur from time to time when a technology’s adoption outstrips our abilities to socially integrate it.
Cinema banned from blocking mobiles
BBCCinema owners in Dublin have come under fire for stopping customers from receiving calls on their mobiles in the middle of a movie.
Ireland’s communications regulator told bosses at Mark Anderson, the company that owns the Savoy cinema, they were breaking the law after they installed a signal blocker.
Perhaps the ideal blocker would allow people who need to be on call to receive a silent vibration-only cue while disallowing any further use of the device (including keypad buttons which make annoying little clicks even when they’re not being told to beep moronically on every push). The receiver would then need to step outside to follow up on the message.
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Posted to General Rants • 2003.05.02 (Fri) • 11:50
Comments
Posted by Phil Ringnalda 2003.05.02, 12:44
I wonder how many ways we haven’t yet integrated the technology that lets us annoy anyone at any time. I just realized today that the reason I’m getting so many more calls asking stunningly stupid questions (yes, there are stupid questions, no matter what your fourth grade teacher told you) is that people no longer think of a phone call as an interruption. If they are standing in line in a store, and you are driving on the freeway, well, why shouldn’t they call you and ask whether you know of a completely unrelated third-party supplier for something you neither have nor use?
Posted by Veine 2003.05.02, 14:21
In my humble opinion, those using a cellphone the cinema, have no business being there. Obviously they are not there for the pleasure of the movie, secondly I can’t think of many reasons to go to the cinema and awaiting such an important call during the movie that I have to take it.
There is no excuse for those kind of people, when cellphones wasn’t in virtually everyones reach then I could have given them the ‘look at me’ factor, but now ..pffft… a few $ per month.. what’s the deal?
I think they should scan people like at the airports, and before every movie (as on airplanes) display a short movie to have all electronics off during the whole movie (not being just at start and landing in the planes)
Posted by sam 2003.05.02, 14:57
I don’t own a mobile either, and I see your point, that cells can be used to really annoy people, but keep in mind that the exact same thing was thought about the regular telephone years ago. “You mean we could get a phone call from someone while we are eating dinner??!? What is this world coming to!” Eventually it got integrated with society, and, with the exception of telemarketers (which we hardly get any of now, thanks to Missouri’s aggressive No-Call List), it doesn’t seem to bother me at all to get a call at dinner.
I think social pressure, from people being visibly annoyed, will begin to change how people use their cell phones, until it gets integrated fully, and we don’t even notice it. Most of my friends with cells turn them off if we are out to dinner or at a movie, knowing full well that any callers can leave messages, and that they’ll get it when they leave the restraunt/theater.
Another perspective I have about it is from working as an audio/visual technician at a medical school/hospital/medical research facility. I setup and managed numberous auditoriums with equipment and microphones and projectors and computers and so on for presenters. Both the presenter as well as the entire audience were usually doctors. Some world famous doctor would be giving a revolutionary lecture that he travelled all the way from Belgium to make, and invariably, half way through the lecture, someone’s pager would go off, and they would slip out to the side, and run out of the room. The lecture would continue unabated. Sometimes, the doctor giving the lecture would have his or her phone ring during the lecture! He would look down at it and either say, “Oh, I’ll get that later.” Or, “Hang on, I have to take this.” and he’d flip off the mic and take the call while everyone waited.
While this would be infuriating to most people, the doctors didn’t mind because lives were on the line. If someone got a page during the big important lecture, it meant that someone was actually dying at that very moment and that the doctor was urgently needed. They knew that patients had a priority, even over the big fancy keynote speech itself.
If a doctor is in a theater, and he gets a page, he damn well better take it, because if some nurse has the gall to bother a doctor during his movie, it means some seriously bad shit is going down and he needs to be there pronto. I’d be worried that signal blockers would just make places where doctors and other emergency personel just couldn’t go, and I don’t think that would be right or fair.
Doing theatrical work also, I’ve seen places, such as super high profile operas, where you actually turn in your cell phone on your way in at the box office, and they tag them and put them in cubbies, and if you get a call, a docent answers your phone, and if its urgent, goes down into the house very quietly and gets you from your seat so you can take the call out in the lobby. Of course, that is quite expensive because it requires well trained staff, and a facility that is reputable enough for people to trust.
So anyway, I think that signal blockers could be potentially damaging, and that social pressure is a better way to handle things like cell phones in inappropriate places. I drive a motorscooter, and regularly give people dirty looks and make a pantomime ‘hang up the goddamn phone’ motion to people I see driving with phones. The other day some lady tried to change lanes into the lane I was occupying, because she wasn’t paying any attention jabbering on her damn phone. I gave her a good solid honking, and at the next stop light, sternly informed her that I was not amused, and that she should know better than to drive around yakking on a stupid phone. She seemed quite embarrassed. Maybe she’ll think twice next time, and just pull into a nearby parking lot to take the call.
Also, set an example. If you ever get a cell phone, I know I’ve been thinking about it, since I’d probably get some good use out of it with the amount of time I’m away from home, then use it well. If people notice you turning off your phone before movies and dinner, like a few of my friends do, and they see that you pull off to the side of the road or into a parking lot to take a phone call on the road, then they will see that as ‘appropriate’ behavior, and begin to model their behavior after your confident and appropriate actions.
Change must come from within. No signal blockers will keep annoying people from being annoying. If its not cell phones, it will be something else. The best solution is to explain to people the problems, and then model respectful behavior, so that society will mold itself over time into a better and more considerate place.
Peace, sam
Posted by Jake of 8bitjoystick.com 2003.05.02, 16:24
It is a damn shame that FCC regulations make such blockers illegal in the US. I would buy one and install it in my car so all the other drivers could not use their cell phones within a block of my car.
Posted by sam 2003.05.02, 16:32
That would be kind of amusing. I did have intentions for a while to build a cell spectrum jamming device I could run off a car battery in a backpack so I could take it to malls and jam everyone’s phones, just for the hell of it. However, the plan ended up being a bit too pricy, and then I decided it really wasn’t worth the effort, just to piss a bunch of people off. It would have been really funny though.
Posted by M Sinclair Stevens 2003.05.02, 21:48
I’m with Jake and Sam. I want my own blocker. Or something that could could hack into their calls before shutting them down with a message like “You rude jerk [polite form], get off you @#$! phone and drive.”
Hey, if Texans can carry concealed handguns (thanks, George W.), why not? Hmmm. I guess the government just wants me to get a handgun.
Posted by MacDara 2003.05.03, 02:58
As someone who actually lives in Dublin and goes to the cinema frequently (the odd time at the Savoy), I have to say that mobile phones really are an absolute menace. For every nine people who switch off their phones or at the very least turn off the ringer (as I do), there’s always one eejit who not only leaves it on, but proceeds to answer the call when it rings in the middle of the film.
I would be the first to say that mobile phones are absolutely indispensibe (when you get into the habit of using them, that is), but they are by no means necessary. If I was expecting a call, the last thing I’d do is go see a movie. Therefore I see no reason why our government could not amend the law to allow signal blockage for particular devices within a limited radius in specific circumstances. It should be signposted, of course, but it needs to be done. As Ward Anderson said themselves, they were only providing a service for their patrons. And I, as one of them, applaud them.
Posted by Jeff 2003.05.04, 21:37
Speaking as a parent of two young ones, on the RARE occasion that my wife and I find a babysitter and can get to a film I keep my cell on but always use the vibrator ring. In fact, I almost always have it set on this mode, even when I’m walking down the street.
As one who takes public transportation to work I’m finding the latest “kraze” in mobile telephony, the mobile that doubles as a walkie-talkie, to be the most obtrusive device du jour. It’s clear we don’t want to hear one side of a conversation in public. Why would we want to hear BOTH sides??
I learned recently that I couln’t get a cell bloker to use in my own home. I have a very medically fragile/disabled son, who has private duty nurses working in our home in his room.
I’m fed up with their phones ringing with PERSONAL non-emrgency calls. Once a nurse (who was a gossiping drama queen) was so hooked on her phone calls, that she actually stopped the process ofer medicating my child to anwser her phone! Yes she was fired! I have to actually tell new hires that they must limit their phone call usage.
Some of us need to learn to either plan ahead, learn to say no, shut-up, get over our selfs and maybe even spend some time reflecting on how to be a better person - even if it’s in the store or behind the wheel. Hang-up American and smell the roses…….maybe you will sleep better at night!
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