Wednesday, May 2, 2012

Thumbs Down on Texting in Movies


Yes, I admit I’m old-fashioned. I’m just back from a writers’ conference hosted by the American Society of Journalists and Authors. There I discovered it’s considered cool to share the insights you’re gleaning by tweeting them to your thousands of followers. Instead of looking at the speaker, you now keep your eyes fixed on your hand-held device as you tap out (spelling and punctuation be damned) nuggets of wisdom. Some speakers actually feel you’re not listening well unless you’re spreading their words in real time to the far corners of the Twittersphere.

Fortunately, my own panel didn’t encourage such behavior. I moderated a session on investigative reporting. My two award-winning speakers, Jim Frederick and Bill Dedman, are old-school journalists, the kind who know how to uncover dark secrets involving local governments, the U.S. military, and the banking industry. How do they gain access to truths that many would rather keep hidden? Both spoke eloquently about the need to forge relationships, to gain the trust of those in the know. For them the art of listening is essential. And it’s not easy to really, truly listen – to pick up nuances, to share in the telling of a story – if your hands and your brain are engaged in a completely different task.

What does all this have to do with movies? Of late there’s been a rash of texting in movie theatres. It doesn’t take a genius to know that the culprits are not in my age-range: it’s America’s youth who are so accustomed to fiddling with electronic toys that many see a darkened movie house as just another place to multitask.

Maybe we of the television generation bear some of the blame. Yes, we were taught to be quiet and attentive at the movies, but when we watched TV in our living rooms no one much minded if we were simultaneously playing a game, eating a snack, or carrying on a conversation. Hey, most TV programs seemed so inconsequential that we felt no particular need to give them our full attention. (There were exceptions, of course -- in those days, reality programming meant the Apollo 11 moon-landing or President Kennedy’s funeral, not Jersey Shore.) Today most widely-circulated movies seem inconsequential too, so perhaps it makes sense that teens can regard them as background noise, not the main event.

Some movie exhibitors, I’m told, are wondering if there should be a place for texting at the movies. Since it’s the youth audience that theatre-owners most want to attract, perhaps the rules need to be changed to accommodate their lifestyle. This subject was hotly debated at Cinemacon, a major exhibitors’ conference in Las Vegas (a locale well versed in the charms of distraction). I leave it to Patrick Goldstein, who writes “The Big Picture” column for the Los Angeles Times, to argue the case against texting during movies: “The whole idea of going to the movies is about leaving all your other baggage behind. It’s why we call it escapist entertainment. If you’re checking your text messages, you’re missing out on the feeling of awe and exhilaration you can only get in a darkened theatre.”

Film, notes Goldstein, is a communal medium. As someone who’s had the weird experience of seeing Teshigahara’s great Woman in the Dunes in a completely empty auditorium, I know that movies are for sharing. But sharing your unfolding moviegoing experience (or your dinner plans) via text or Twitter seems a violation of those special moments in the dark. It’s hard to truly see and hear a great film when your hands are telling a story of their own.


7 comments:

  1. As for conferencing, it is disrectful to do unless you are doing it as a form of notetaking and even then, it should be limited.

    As for movies and other "performances" I think disturbing others is rude. But perhaps more importantly, I think we need to start teaching young people how to be spectators. I don't mean this in terms of manners (although that is important). I mean how to allow the experience to have an impact.

    On a personal note, I have been taking my godson to the movies for years. He is the kid you want at your movie. He loves the experience of not only seeing the movie, but the shared experience. Tweeting, texting, or even taking notes during a movie or performance keeps audiences on the outside and never fully absorb what is being offered.

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    1. I appreciate hearing from you, Les. It sounds as though you've been a wonderful influence on your godson. Congratulations! As for tweeting and texting at conferences, I tend to agree with you, but to many people I've met recently, tweeting what you're hearing is the OPPOSITE of disrespectful. Columbia University journalism prof and social media guru Sree Sreenivasan actually encourages his audiences to tweet the points he's making, because he feels this vastly increases the reach of his ideas. (As a speaker myself, I'd rather just capture the attention of my listeners. But hey! It's a new world out there.)

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  2. At conferences in the field of User Experience, if your talk isn't being tweeted, it means it's not valuable, to share a different perspective.

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    1. As I said, Hilary, it's a whole new world! (Doesn't that sound like a song cue?)

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  3. I find myself with you on this one, Ms. Gray. I'm not quite able to wrap my head around a presentation where attention is mostly on your handheld device. But then, I also don't burp my thanks and appreciation of dinner loudly - as you say - different strokes...

    And texting in movies is yet another reason I don't see that many movies in the theater any more, much as I enjoy it. It's just sad to watch the young waste their youth and grow ever more disconnected at the same time they are ever more connected. I've had to shush some talkative youngsters in the theater a couple of times this year - but thankfully I haven't had to speak to anyone about their screen display lighting up the auditorium. (knock wood)

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  4. Beverly,
    as always I am in conjuction you. No tweeting please or texting while you are talking to me, why the hell I am even talking to you then, it's BS I tell you!! Our youth are living in a terrible version of America.
    I have been away from your sight for the past two months writing my novel, The Sugarcane Theory. It is finished, there are no more words to be written. I take down the culture of our current land, and knock out the evil that exists. We have created a horrifying place to call home, and we need Old America back, one where we listen and stand still to observe our surroundings instead of trying to fit in with our peers. Stand on your own two feet and become deeply rooted, or you will perish from this life as a wasted human, a conformed blob of nothing!

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    1. Bravo on finishing your book, Paul. Sounds very ambitious -- kudos on avoiding being a conformed blob of nothing!

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