www.axs.com: Fans hoping to see Jack White when he comes to town on his upcoming North American tour in support of Boarding House Reach will have to do so without their cell phones. The rock guitarist is banning the use of phones for all 40 shows of his North American run, which is scheduled to start on April 19 in Detroit and last until late August.
6 comments:
I am kind of torn about what I feel about this article. Initially, i thought that this sounds ridiculous and over controlling. I mean actually locking people's phones inside of bags that they can not open until after the show? this seems so demanding and overbearing. I do not like the idea of someone forcing someone else to appreciate something in the way they do. It is almost a regressive idea to say that enjoying a show live is better than enjoying it through your social media. But on the other hand, I think that he has a point. It can be all consuming at times and I can see how one could have a better appreciation for a show while actually watching it. I think banning all phones is just a bit too much. In the video he says that he originally just asked the audience to do it from stage, and to me, this seems like a much better approach because it gives people the option of snapping a quick pic themselves (which is arguably much better than just reposting someone else's) while also enjoying the majority of the show.
I think that having a phone free concert is a great idea that should be adopted more in the future for all things. Phones have completely invaded our lives and make it hard to do even the simplest tasks like sitting in a lecture or having a conversation without a distraction. I really appreciate that Jack White is being honest about the phone distraction problem and has come up with a solution where people feel safe with their phones on them but are not allowed to actually use them during the concert. I have heard about these locked pouches being used in some classrooms as well and the performance rate of students has apparently increased. Even some students found themselves enjoying not feeling obligated to check their phones and I am sure Jack White’s audience will find themselves enjoying his concert more as well. I think that once more artists implement this no phone zone rule then soon it will become in unsaid requirement and people can starting enjoying real in the moment experiences again.
I think this is a wonderful ideas. I agree that people are often to focused on documenting and not being in the moment. Yondr phone pouches sound great because they allow the audience to keep their phones with them. I think this will be more successful than asking the audience to leave the phones somewhere, either at the gate of the concert or in their cars. In the entertainment industry, there seems to be a fight between trying to get people to separate from their phones and incorporating the phone into the experience. In experiences where audience members use their phones, like in Privacy at the Public Theater, phones are a necessary part of the experience. Therefore, the outside world can not distract the audience by their phone. Yondr’s phone case seems to be the opposite idea. Going forward, it will be interesting to see if the entertainment industry tries to keep people in the moment by using phones as a tool or asking people not to use phones.
I wholly agree with Jack White's move to ban phones, as I know that when I'm at a concert, having my phone on and running is definitely not my primary concern. People should be engaged and interconnected at a concert, just like at the theater, where phones are also banned. therefore, I feel like Jack's philosophical argument against phones is very reasonable and defensible. In addition, there is also the issue of recording concerts, which cheapens the concert going experience overall and produces second rate bootlegs of an otherwise one of a kind musical experience. Overall, I feel like the less access to our phones we have, the better off we will be and the more we will appreciate the real world arts and entertainment we have access to. So I applaud Jack White for his move to ban phones. We could use more artists like him, who are unwilling to compromise the integrity of their work for the masses.
This is a pretty cool movement catching on, and I think it’s really going to enrich everyone’s concert-going experiences in the near future. I think we can all agree nothing is worse than flipping through snapchat stories and running into an hour-long fuzzy and indiscernible iteration of whatever concert your friend from home is attending. I have always thought when this happens to me, “why bother filming this? You’re never going to look back at the video and get the same effect as you did live.” I love going to live music shows and hove only ever taken one picture at each one (maybe one or two more when I was younger and had first received a camera phone) but I really think the point of going to these live events is not to have your own crappy documentation of it, but to be there and hear the music and be in the crowd.
I love this movement! I am part of the ever-growing group of people who feel like our phones are invading too many facets of our lives, and I think that one of the best ways to combat this is by doing what Jack White is doing. Getting everyone in the practice of being in an environment that naturally brings us together, and forcing all of the distractions out can remind us how incredible it is to have what Jack White’s team accurately calls a, “100% human experience.” It is so important for us, as artists and human beings, to remember that being present is where we draw inspiration from and how we acquire our most vivid, cherished memorized. Something else I am fascinated by is the technology involved in creating a phone free environment. I also appreciate the dose of realism present in the creation of a phone zone, so people do have the opportunity to use their phone if necessary.
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