NEWS UK mobile phone users have given their overwhelming backing to French plans to jam mobile phone signals in public performance spaces such as cinemas, theatres and concert halls.
According to the findings of a silicon.com poll, a massive 87.7 per cent of respondents said they would support similar action.
Importantly the French plans still make it possible for users to make outgoing calls to emergency services numbers, but all other calls and messaging - incoming and outgoing - will be blocked after patrons and managers of such venues became frustrated by the selfish minority who were either unable or unwilling to switch off their phone or put it on silent, despite constant reminders and calls to do so.
One silicon.com reader wrote: "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."
Most cinemas have signs around the building requesting movie-goers take such action and big-budget on-screen trailers, most famously those by French-owned mobile phone giant Orange, remind them again yet many fail to do so leading to instances of phones going off during a performance – often ruining it for others.
Those such as on-call workers say they know to put their phones on silent, but need to have them on in case of emergency, claim such action discriminates against them. However, experience shows people still cannot be trusted, which is why the French authorities have taken the decision out of the public's hands.
Another reader wrote: "If you are a doctor on call and your mobile phone is blocked, 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."
Certainly sympathy for the 'on call' defence is running low.
Another reader added: "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."
Comments
There are 19 comments. Join the discussion
1. John
I have to be on call, but always have my phone on silent when in the cinema, not just for other people but so I dont look like a fool!
Instead of blocking the phones, all you need to do is legalise giving the owners of the ringing phones a swift kickin at the front of the screen
2. anonymous
I never use mobiles in public performances but how do they block normal calls and exclude calls to 999/112? do they know what telephone number im dialing? that means the cinema not only blocks the call but logs my private ex-directory line as well? if so isnt that against the data protection act? or are all mobiles just blocked and they have landlines/payphones that can dial out to 999?
3. anonymous
We should also block people eating noisy sweets. And people who talk. And tall people. And people with big hair or hats, or both. The nanny state starts here.
4. Rob
I'm with John's comment, time we went back to basics and just issued swift public kickings, then hopefully we can avoid becoming a nanny state, cause at the moment it looks like most of the muppet public need guidance in everything they do. What happened to our society, why is everyone so useless?
5. Richard
More annoying than mobiles ringing in cinemas, art galleries etc are the people who actually answer them.
Forgetfulness is excusable. crass, selfish disregard for everybody else is unforgivable.
Anybody with an ounce of common sense or a gram of consideration would quickly and surreptitiously press the red button that refuses the call. But some people seem to believe they, their work or their pathetic excuses for a social life are too important to wait 5 minutes.
I say; Shame on them.
No, wait. I say, Jump on them and give them a proper kicking.
I agree with John and Rob, this is not a matter for the Nanny State it is a job for the Matron of public censure.
If their parents haven't brought them up decently it is up to the rest of us to administer swift justice and teach the selfish b*st*rds a lesson they will remember next time they are in a public place.
BTW while we are at it, can we duff up people eating noisy sweets and popcorn with their mouths open like "Anon" suggested? Oh go on. Can we? Please!
So, just the people in silly hats then...?
6. Wilson
Mobile phone manufacturers don't seem to be addressing the "social" issues surrounding their products. The first is phones ringing when they will disturb others like in a theatre, cinema, or even a restaurant. The second is the perceived menace that camera phones pose. My organisation has a policy banning camera phones on site but this is becoming almost impossible to enforce as more than 90% of all new phones have cameras. Rather than looking to third party organisations to block network signals maybe phone manufacturers could build into their devices code to automatically silence phones when they go through a gantry mounted at the entrance to establishments who want to maintain a "no ringtone" policy. In the same way they could also disable cameras when they enter sensitive establishments.
7. anonymous
What is the range of these devices?
If you live next to a cinema etc will your phone not work in your own home?
8. Chris P
Even if people put their phones on silent ring, it doesn't stop them from answering calls during a performance. At a theatre in Manchester a couple of weeks ago the performance was disturbed a number of times by the same person who kept taking calls. If people can't be responsible and turn them off then venues have to take the lead and block them. If it isn't sorted now it will lead to phone rage !
9. Bill Richards
Went to the Stella Artois Tennis in London this year, and a woman in front of us kept taking calls. Every time it rang, firstly the umpire then the crowd badgered her to turn it off, she kept saying I can't I'm on call. How dumb is that? By the way she was an IT support person
10. jon
As a parent, we rely on our mobile to give us peace of mind if we go see a movie and leave a babysitter at home. We always have the mobile on silent and NEVER answer the phone - instead we would walk out and call back. At least we know we received a call.
I think selfish people who answer their phones in cinemas/theatres should be ejected from the cinema and BLACKLISTED/ iven a ban for a period of time from that particular cinema/chain. I think that would be more effective.
I would not be able to go to a cinema that blocked mobile phones. I think there are others in the same situation (e.g those on call) and cinemas would suffer if they instituted this.
11. Mickey Mouse
Who needs the law - aren't you on property owned by the cinema/theatre - i.e. private property? All these places should already be blocking. I was at a cinema once, and the kids next to me were texting/talking constantly - what a nightmare. Actually while you're at it - ban kids from these places too - BAN THEM ALL!! I SAY, MWAH HAH HAH HAH!
12. Vernon Skitt
You should try Panama Central America... Many consider it sport to wave iluminated phones and have long loud conversation during a movie and refuse to switch off.
It will change eventually when they grow up.
13. anonymous
What on earth is a doctor on call doing in the cinema? He can go when he is not on call, like the rest of us do.
14. Simon
Some people are 'on call' 24x7 !
Bear in mind that some people do not have the luxury of having 'not on call' times (fortunately I'm not (officially) one of them). However, even people that do (for example doctors) can expect to be 'called in' if there is a big emergency.
So just saying that people shouldn't go to the cinima or theatre when on call is a bit simplistic.
But, on the whole I do support the idea with a few reservations - the main one being that these systems are bound to have an effect outside the building which must surely be illegal ?
Perhaps such buildings should use wallpaper with a thin metallic lining which would in many cases do the job passively.
15. Richard
I agree with Wilson. The Handset makers should install a 'politeness' chip that can mute any ring-tone.
Perhaps that'll be the killer-app for blue-tooth.
The mobile is fast becoming as oxygen, so don't stand in the surf.
16. Chris Barton
Yes, all too true. Mobiles are the scourge of modern society. How about beating technology with technology and have the option of collecting a set of wireless headphones when going into the cinema. This would block out not all unwelcome noises from fellow cinema goers.
17. Jon Hill
I have no problem with people being on call - or visiting a cinema while on call - or even leaving the phone on, while in the movie, while on call.
However, neither do I have a problem with 'silent', 'vibrate', and 'going outside to call people back'.
There are two excuses for ringtones sounding in cinema's - forgetfulness and ignorance.
When I first started giving Bluetooth training, it was a good 12 months before the first chips appeared in mobiles. One of the first 'examples' put forward by the techno-evangelists was an automated 'shut up' signal going to mobiles while in theatres.
Maybe one day it'll come true. Until that day, I'm resigned to just tutting loudly, like the rest of us.
18. Miller
Typical piece of Gallic over-reaction in my view.
A more acceptable, proportional, British, approach would be simply to take the offender to the front of the cinema/theatre/tennis court and have them whipped to within an inch of their lives. A second offence would of course call for the surgical removal of naughty bits.
19. Darren
Jon, get a life, as the article said, we all coped before and so did our parents. it's not just the ringing, there's the blinding light of the phone as the text mad morons sit and send messages while i'm trying to watch a movie. What next, a 24/7 webcam with motion detector that bleeps every time your kids sneeze, displays the kids on the cinema screen and calls an ambulance? It's all quite sad,obsessive and selfish.