Phone-Free Theatre Nights
The discussion
Leila: I love that some theatres now seal your phone in a pouch for the whole performance. Last time I went to a play, the person in front checked her messages all evening, and the glow was impossible to ignore.
Mateo: I find it patronising. I'm an adult who paid for a ticket, and if I want to glance at my phone during the interval, that's between me and the people around me.
Anja: There's a safety angle too. If something happens in a packed auditorium, I want to be able to call someone, and fumbling with a locked pouch in the dark is frightening.
Leila: The pouches can be opened at stations near the exits, so emergencies are covered. And honestly, the performances I've seen phone-free had a totally different atmosphere, people were really listening.
Mateo: A different atmosphere for you, maybe. Many people with anxiety use their phone as a comfort, and sealing it away could stop them attending at all.
Anja: That's a point I hadn't considered, Mateo. Perhaps theatres could offer phone-free performances on certain nights and leave the others as normal, so both groups get what they want.
Leila: Designated nights seem like a fair test. If the phone-free performances sell out first, that tells theatres something, and if they don't, I'll stop preaching about it.