Press

Article about mobile phones from the Guardian blogsite

It's time to get tough with the mobile abusers

Comic Richard Herring once walked up to a woman whose mobile had disrupted his show and smashed the offending item. Did he go too far?
Johnny Dee

Latest newspaper articles

* Show all articles

Latest blog posts

* I love the Dylan and Dr Seuss mash-up
* It's time to get tough with the mobile abusers
* Worshipping Father Ted
* Show all articles

Full profile
Webfeed
All Johnny Dee articles
About Webfeeds
March 6, 2007 04:32 PM | Printable version

no mobiles
Ring of ire... Should we take people who ruin our entertainment to task for their behaviour?

A couple of years ago while performing at the Edinburgh Festival the comedian Richard Herring's set was disturbed by a constantly ringing mobile phone from the back of the stalls. Unable to contain his anger any longer he snatched the phone from the offending woman, threw it violently to the floor and broke it into pieces. Herring feared he had overstepped the mark but he was only doing what the whole audience probably felt like doing and was applauded for his efforts. Who has never been in a cinema when a phone has gone off and felt their blood boiling as the default Nokia Annoying Bastard ringtone cuts through a tense moment in the film you'd paid £7 to see - especially as the last advert before it started was one politely asking everyone to switch their phones off?

A 2006 survey published by YouGov found that only 50% of cinemagoers turned off their phones, while 40% switched them to silent. Someone forgetting to do this is bad enough but when they actually answer it and chuckle "yeah, I'm at the cinema" and then give a quick review of the movie to their caller it's even worse. How are we supposed to behave in these situations? There should be some kind of moral code that dictates we can all go a bit Herring if pushed.

Intrusive mobiles are even worse at the theatre, where they can not just ruin the enjoyment of the audience but also the concentration of the actors. As we mentioned earlier, as with the space race and prepubescent gymnasts, it appears Russia is leading the way in outlawing mobile use in theatres.

Where mobile use winds me up the most is at rock gigs where you can hardly move for people holding their camera phones aloft in order to capture the moment. Is this why you went to the gig - not to enjoy the music but to film a crappy low-resolution movie of it? Why? Of course I suspect part of the reason is to boast to friends that you "were there" or more altruistically possibly to cut them in on a bit of the joy of the occasion - which is sweet, but do you have to hold your arm aloft for the entire gig?

At the end of Herring's show the mobile phone abuser came onstage and demanded he pay her £70 for the broken phone. "I'm not giving you £70 for that," he replied. "It's broken."

Have you ever had a cultural pursuit ruined by someone's mobile phone? Please let us know - and how did you handle it?