Friday, April 15, 2016
In an Effort to Appeal to Millennials, AMC May Start Allowing Texting During Movies
Flavorwire: Right now, texting in movie theaters is considered a major faux pas. That uncontrollably bright backlight on the iPhone, even at the lowest brightness setting, has the ability to blind anyone — especially in a near-pitch black theater.
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Ha!! I think that the idea of potentially allowing movie-goers to text in a theater isn't an absolutely terrible idea, but I do think that it will never work and is honestly sort of sad that it has gone as far as playing with the idea of doing so. It's shameful and says a lot about the Millennial's attention span-- that we supposedly can't even enjoy an artful movie without picking up our cellphones and letting the world know where we are. I think that it's really out of respect that you should not check your phone inside of any theater (movie or play) and if you seriously must, you leave the auditorium to do so. I am also very relieved that the end note was an update about how in the end, they did the right thing and ended up not going through with the texting!
I think that calling this an effort to appeal to millennials is short-sighted and vaguely offensive to the generation that this would appeal to. Most people have the compunction not to use their phones in the theatres, as it would kill the experience of filmgoers around them to have to deal with the light from a cell phone. By claiming that such a policy would improve sales, as most 20-somethings use their phones as if they are appendages, is a sour way to appeal to a generation that doesn't spend much time at the movies anyway, instead opting to pirate the week's latest blockbuster. After this was issued, the actual, relatively older film-going crowd was appalled by this statement, and made it abundantly clear that this policy was out of touch with the actual community. To no one's surprise, the CEO of AMC theatres issued a retraction of this statement the following day, claiming he had no intention of starting such an uproar and only meant to give moviegoers more options at their theatre, which is a clever heel-turn from his previous statements. Overall, this policy was a misguided attempt to get young people into movies, and I don't think anyone will mourn it's quick death.
While I think the need to be surfing the internet or texting on your phone while watching a movie is a sad picture of the shortness of the modern attention span, I definitely am guilty of doing it. But there is a time and a place for that kind of mindless shifting from screen to screen and it is not a movie theater. It is late at night when you’re watching Netflix or YouTube videos and remember that you need to check your email or want to be the next level of Candy Crush. In an age where you can find just about any movie on the internet if you know where to look, I would only go to a movie theater if I wanted the experience of being fully immersed in the movie. I’m glad that AMC realized how much absolutely no one wants to have this added to their movie going experience. The appeal of a movie theater is not to make it more like the experience at home, because we can get that for free, but to make it more special and unique.
This is crazy. Absolutely not. I am one of the few people now a days that when I go see a movie I turn my phone off. Like actually power down, not just silenced. I cannot stand people texting in theaters. I understand that it can be a lot to ask someone in our time to not use their phone for an hour and a half, but really if they can't do that while being entertained by a movie, then how are they ever going to work in the professional world? I think that it is crazy to even consider the idea of a texting friendly movie, who would want to pay money to see a movie then? And really, think about how disrespectful that is to every creator that put work into that movie. I appreciate that this idea was stopped and AMC changed their mind after the backlash they received, but I wonder if in 5 years it will be a common occurrence.
Maybe its because I’m used to the etiquette of theater but this seems like a terrible idea and I’m glad AMC has already changed its mind on it. I know my generation is really attached to their phones but that’s no reason to let them disturb movies for everyone else there. On top of that why do people feel the need to be on their phones during a movie in the first place? If you’re going to spend the time and money to actually go out to the movies why distract your self from what’s going on with your phone? Maybe I just don’t understand their mindset but I don’t know why some people fight so hard against the idea of turning their phone off or at least leaving it in their pocket for a few hours. If you’re important enough that you absolutely can not be out of contact for that long, then you’re probably not going to be going to the movies in the first place. Or if you are you can have some kind of aid with you who can come get you if someone needs to get in tough with you.
I have some conflicted opinions about this, but I find that the one that prevails is the voice inside me that says “hey, you paid $11 for a movie, and so did everyone else in the theatre, maybe we should just watch the damn movie and not bother anyone”. I watched the video of the voicemail left by the customer who got kicked out of the movie theatre in Texas, and I hear a person who just doesn’t have that voice in her head. Every generation has a thing about them that annoys the older generations, and constantly being on phones and technology may be one of those things, but to me that isn’t the argument I’d make against using phones in movie theatres. The argument against phones in theatres is that they annoy everyone else to serve one person’s instant desire to troll facebook, or text their friend. Not only does it show a lack of respect for people, but it shows a complete lack of awareness of the consequences of your actions, and so when people bring about those consequences and therefor giving you the opportunity to be aware of how you effect other people, by the means of kicking you out of their theatre, I’m for it.
This article has me pretty ticked off. I am getting really, really tired of hearing things like the fact that "telling a millenial to turn their cell phone off is like telling them to cut off their left arm above the elbow." The last time I checked, I was actually still a human being with the ability to cope without a device for two hours to watch something I've paid to see, and not a highly saturated Disney Channel character who has to keep up with the 411 every second of the day. Every time a sentence starts with "millenials" I shudder because I know that I'm about to be insulted by someone older than me who probably uses a phone as much as I do.
Anyway, this whole "texting in theatres so milennials will shell out some cash" move is deeply pathetic. Why does AMC feel such a deep need to pander to a community that is watching movies for free online? Have they even heard of 'Netflix and Chill'? As nice as it would be, very few people my age go on movie dates anymore. It used to be the standard, but now it just seems like too much of a hassle when you're paying less for a monthly Netflix subscription than you would to go to the movies one time. I personally would rather stay home and watch a movie too, but not because I can TEXT at home. I can curl up in a blanket at home, and eat my own <$100 food, and talk and laugh with my friends or get up and pause it or whatever I want to do. The reason, AMC, that you aren't getting young people to see your movies anymore is not because we are so joined to our cell phones that we couldn't possibly stand to turn them off for a few hours (the horror!), but because there are less expensive, more comfortable options. Stop making us into a joke.
The issue with thinking like this doesn't have anything to do with the actual cellphones and how they disturb people around them but the reasoning behind it. As I mentioned in my previous comment, my dinosaur phone doesn't do anything but talk and text so besides sending the occasional message to my friends I've never really had the temptation to pull it out during a movie, but I don't think any of my friends would agree with the statement that taking a millennial's phone away is like cutting their arm off. It sounds like AMC is "giving millennials their phones back" as a way to concede to the generation, which not only sounds pandering but also implies that we use technology as a crutch and can't function without it. Of course I realize that the amount of middle schoolers with iPhones is significantly more than it was ten or even five years ago, and of course those with smart phones depend on them very much, but acting like an entire generation of people can't function in public without being "allowed" to use their phones creates a needless division between the generations.
Not going to lie, I have texts during movies, on the lowest brightness setting and underneath my jacket, in a way that could disturb absolutely no one, in order to see where my friends were (they were late to the movie and the trailers were beginning). Because of that, the man behind me violently kicked my seat, because obviously that was the proper response. I think people who do stuff like that are pretty annoying in and of themselves. If someone was texting on full brightness, I understand how that could be a problem. But if someone literally opened their phone for 30 seconds, I don't think I would be that annoyed. At least not VIOLENTLY annoyed.
Still though, I think allowing people to text in movie theaters because "millennials" is pretty weird. I can turn my phone off for recreational use. I'm never in a movie like "hey man, what's up?" I can exist without my cell phone. The thought that I literally cannot function with a phone is kind of silly, and even though I use it a lot and it's super useful, I can still sit still for two hours and have fun without it.
Honestly, this is pretty hilarious. This article, in a nutshell, is saying "AMC Theaters has been trying really hard to get people to stop texting and watch movies. It did not work. We give up." It seems kind of like a reverse psychology thing at best. Maybe if we tell people that they should text during movies, they will not actually do it! Personally, I can not stand when people are on their phones in movies, and especially in theatrical performance settings. I can kind of understand just sending a quick text if there is an emergency, but I get really annoyed when people are playing games or watching snapchat stories. While I think the fact that AMC is just giving up is funny, it is also infuriating. Have we as a society become so dependent on our phones that we literally can not put them away for a couple hours?
This is a horrible idea. It would ruin movies and movie going, but more than that I'm kind of insulted by it. I think technically I'm about a millennial but I'm on the cusp so when people say bad things about millennials I am always a little angry. There seems to be this idea in marketing toward people in their 20's that we have to dumb everything down for their little technological minds. Companies do it all the time, they try and be "cool" or more technologically advanced to appeal to people in their 20's. I am perfectly capable of sitting through a movie without a million other things to distract me, I am perfectly capable of being still for 3 hours. And yes movie going has gone out of style because it's cheaper and more comfortable to stay at home and watch Netflix but that's not just millennials. My parents would rather do that too, because movies are going out of style. So let's change the system to cater to the changing world, not "adjust" to the millennials who are really no different from people of other ages.
Ugh. This is disappointing. I’m surprised, but not that surprised to be honest. I get why AMC feels compelled to make this change and allow texting, but all it will do will degrade the movie theatre experience. A glowing screen is so distracting to other movie goers. When I am at the theatre and people are on their phones, I’m always wondering “wow, are their attention spans that short? That they can’t even watch a movie?” Why can’t people get engaged with the film and focus on the story? I’m not convinced that this is a generational problem or that today’s youth are different than previous generations. I think it is more likely that this demonstration of short attention spans would have come about with any generation in which this technology (smart phones) was readily available. The current generation doesn’t necessarily have shorter attention spans, they’re just accustomed to the tools that demonstrate distraction. Moving forward though, with our pre-school and elementary age kids already using iPads and iPhones, this may become more of a problem.
No. This is a terrible idea. I also don’t like how the head of AMC, Adam Aron, made a sweeping generalization of my generation, of how asking one of us to put away our phones would be akin to asking to cut our arm off. This is not true, many of us can survive a few hours without our phones, this is not the problem that is driving millennials away from movie theatres. It is the cost of the ticket and the fact that there are online services like Netflix and Amazon Prime. There is also the problem of how to go about this change, which is addressed in the article. As Aron says himself, no moviegoer wants to sit next to someone who is texting or on their phone. So this poses an interesting quandary that Aron mentioned, his wanting to have a cell phone usage policy, but no way to implement it. When I got to the bottom of the article, I was relieved to find that after many complaints, this terrible idea was called off.
This is a terrible idea, for many reasons. First of all, Millennials, and every other person on earth really is capable of turning their phone off for a movie. Unbelievable, but it is true. And that is coming from someone who usually only listens to movies while drawing or doing homework; I usually like to be doing something as well as watch the movie instead of just watching the movie alone, but of course I devote my attention if I am going to a theatre. I paid money for that experience, a lot of money, actually. Secondly, I do not think that being able to be on your cell phone will attract any more audience members of this age group. It is not as attractive an ad campaign as one might think. Third, this will destroy the already dying tradition of theatre etiquette. Once people can use their phones in a movie theatre, the theatre will be the next to go.
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