NEWS French mobile users who refuse to switch off their phones while watching a movie, play or musical performance are to start seeing such stubbornness is futile as venues begin installing phone jamming equipment in line with new laws.
The right to block phone signals within such building has now come into effect across the channel and conscientious theatregoers will soon start noticing their performances aren't interrupted by the inconsiderate minority.
Installing the signal-jamming equipment is reportedly to cost €6,000 per time, but looks set to win priceless levels of customer satisfaction, with overwhelming support in France for the measures.
The issue has become a source of heated debate in recent years, which many arguing such rudeness from others can mar a performance.
Mobile phones users blocked under the new French measures will still be able to make outgoing calls to emergency services numbers in the event somebody is taken ill, for example, during a performance - a feature which was a requirement of any such implementation.
Similarly they will be able to step out into a corridor to make an urgent call or check messages as the block is strictly limited to the perimeter of the 'performance area'.
Hollywood actor and now artistic director at the Old Vic, Kevin Spacey recently criticised UK audiences for failing to switch off their phones during performances.
"You have to respect the fact there is some degree of behaviour that we expect in the theatre and we're going to demand it at the Old Vic," Spacey told BBC Radio 4 last month.
"It's a phone-free zone. We don't want them ringing and we certainly don't want them ringing and people ignoring them pretending that it's not theirs," he added.
Have your say on this matter by voting in our one-click poll (on the right of the homepage). Would you like you like to see similar measures introduced in the UK?
Comments
There are 10 comments. Join the discussion
1. Tom Hardie
What about those of us who are on-call?
We know to have the phone on silent.
Would this mean that medical people, as well as IT ones, would not be able to enjoy an evening out? How would we know which parts of a building are blocked?
Has this really been thought through?
2. Duncan Newbury
6 years ago when I used to run concerts I was told that these jamming systems could interfere with pacemakers. Does anyone know if this was/is still the case?
3. Duncan Newbury
Tom, if the pacemaker thing is true, then it sounds like the doctors would be in just the right place!
4. Mark Hudson
How do they limit it to the perimeter of the performance area? Are the radio waves suddenly graced with a certain intelligence whereby they know they are or are not allowed to proceed past a certain point?!
5. Steve
Tom, unfortunately as anyone with a mobile phone will tell you, it's all too easy to forget to turn it off even if you intend to. Moreover, there are plenty of people who point blank REFUSE to turn them off - I even see people at the gym using them while they're working out! I certainly haven't met anyone to date who is that important that they need to be "in-touch" 24/7.
As for those on call... you're ON CALL (ie. at work), so don't be going to places where you're likely to disturb others when you are, wait for your day/night off like the rest of us do. I pay alot of good money to watch a movie or a play or ballet, I certainly don't see why it should be spoilt by a few selfish, arrogant, too important for their own good idiots!
6. anonymous
Erm,
If you are a doctor on call,or anyone else on call, and your mobile phone is blocked from receiving calls, you can still be on call. It is not difficult. You are just required to think a little bit.
What on earth did we do BEFORE mobile phones were invented? Did the world grind to a halt? Was it a disaster? No. People did something called PLANNING and TOLD people where they would be at a given time.
So, new scenarios, Doctor is enjoying play at theater.. Phone is switched off. Hospital rings theatre on Landline and asks for Doctor A in row X seat Y.
Computer goes down, Operator is enjoying film. TOUGH, the world will not stop because some company loses a bit of revenue for a couple of hours. But if it is life and death, then cinema briefly stops show and puts it out over tannoy.
Not exactly rocket science, just a bit of forethought. Switch the damn things off and if you cant be bothered, expect them to be jammed.
I recently made my Father of the bride speech, and during it, someones phone went off. I made my distaste and annoyance well known to that particular party, as I had specifically requested that mobile phones be switched off for the duration of the ceremony. That particular guest was immediately asked to leave the room in order to answer his phone, and was not invited back in.
7. anonymous
Steve, couldn't agree more. Tom, I find it very difficult to understand how you could ask the question. It tends to suggest that the attitude is, I'm on call so therefore it is okay to interupt everybody else's enjoyment.
If you are on call and MUST have a mobile on, do not attend events where you HAVE to switch it off. Seems simple really.
8. anonymous
Recently went to a conference where the main speaker expressed a huge hatred of mobile telephones. He had on the lecturn a pint glass of water and threatened that if any phone rang he would come into the audience remove it from the guilty party and throw it in the glass.
10 minutes in phone rings, everyone looks around for culprit then realises it is coming over the PA system - keynote speaker had forgotten to turn off his own phone. To give him his due he did then proceed to throw it into the water!
9. Alistair Thomas
As a parent I'm on call 24/7 and it's comforting to know that on the rare occassion every other month when my wife and I go out together when we've found a trustworthy babysitter we can afford, that if an emergency happens we can drop everything and run. So I'm one of the 12% who voted no.
I might be prone to forget to put my phone on silent, but the entertainment venues very sensibly give several warnings in the run up to the start and that covers any omission on my part. Real emergencies that would cause a baby sitter to call are once in a lifetime events (hopefully) and you'd never forgive yourself if you weren't there.
I agree that if you are on call then you should stay away from such events. You're on call because 'events' are more likely to happen than not. You are being paid for your inconvenience. Even if you put the phone on silent, the interruption to others as you stumble out of the venue, stepping on peoples toes etc (even if you don't try to answer the call until you're outside 'the perimeter') is inconsiderate and unacceptable.
Personally I am surprised at the intense feeling this subject arouses, but that said, I'm rarely surprised by the inconsiderate minority whose action prompts such histeria. I get wound up by smokers who discard their cast offs anywhere but in the bin (Men's public toilets - ugghh!). I don't know who they think pays for the army of people that need to walk round after them cleaning up their mess. Human being can be so self obseessed sometimes.
And before the anti-parent lobby start into the "What did you do before mobile phones when you wanted to go out?" The truth is that the world was a much more innocent place then, or certainly it seemed so. Maybe parents just had to worry or not go out. Who knows? The price of 'Progress'!
10. Diran Markarian
Instead of jamming the mobiles, I'd prefer that the offending mobile be confiscated forthwith and its owner thrown out of the theatre.
I'm not surprised that the French had to resort to jamming bnecause the French don't respect any of their social laws such as not smoking in places where it's clearly marked not to, parking. p