Using Your Phone in a Movie Theater? Outrage Erupts Online After 'Barbie' and 'Oppenheimer Screenings

Using Your Phone in a Movie Theater? Outrage Erupts Online After 'Barbie' and 'Oppenheimer Screenings,People on both sides have very strong feelings when it comes to using a phone in a movie theater - and when it comes to retribution.

Using Your Phone in a Movie Theater? Outrage Erupts Online After ‘Barbie’ and ‘Oppenheimer Screenings

The “Barbenheimer” phenomenon got a lot of people into movie theaters in the last week and a half, but it also reignited one of the most fearsome debates among movie buffs: phones in the theater. Obviously, movie theaters ask customers to silence their phones and leave them off during a screening, but some people are more serious about it than others. A conversation about phones in the movies heated up very quickly on social media this weekend.

The fact that Barbie and Oppenheimer premiered on the same day became a meme months in advance and inspired many people to go out for a double-feature – or at least for two movies in the span of just a few days – including some that are not frequent moviegoers in general. That means that packed audiences were stuck together for hours at a time, and some people did not take phone etiquette seriously. That includes not just sounds, but light, as a bright phone screen in the tiered seats in front of you can be annoying and distracting.

like how is this real 😩https://t.co/90xSSTEW18

— Ashley Reese (@offbeatorbit) August 1, 2023

Of course, some people take this kind of annoyance more seriously than others, and many people have different opinions on the underlying issues. Some think that it’s a matter of education – that casual movie fans need to be informed in strong terms that phone use is not acceptable. Others think it is a sign of compulsive behavior and internet addiction that we should address more broadly as a culture – not just at the movies.

Debates about these kinds of takes passed around social media this weekend along with some anecdotes about phone users in the theater and how they were treated by others. Here is a look at some of the top posts on the issue.

Guidelines

Can we add smart watches that convey texts from phones as well? Good golly, people. The woman next to me at MI 7 looked at texts on her smart watch repeatedly.

— ChicagoHistoryPod (@chicago_pod) July 28, 2023

Some users laid out the guidelines for technology in the movie theater as they saw them, prompting others to weigh in and suggest tweaks to the code of conduct.

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Vigilante Justice

to clarify: I only saw the aftermath. I don’t know if they warned her first or anything, only the theater employees advising her that she would have been kicked out and banned if they had caught her instead, but in this case she could go home, wash up, and reconsider her choices.

— dr barb-n-heimer (@ozymegdias) August 2, 2023

Whoever splashed her: pic.twitter.com/5zU0t4tVde

— Seph’s Arts & Shenanigans (@EllisLavigne) August 2, 2023

One viral post told the story of a woman who had a drink poured on her by strangers when she used her phone during a screening of Barbie. The person who wrote the post didn’t have many details, but readers filled in the blanks with their own hypothetical justifications for both sides.

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Optional

like you’re wasting your money either way just go home 😭😭

— ⛥*ᶜʰʳⁱˢ (@sattanics) August 2, 2023

Many people pointed out that you can leave a movie theater at any time – whether to check your phone or simply because you are not interested in finishing the film.

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Compulsion

I go to see movies in theaters because I know it will force me NOT to look at my phone, which is sad, but I know I have attention and compulsion problems around social media — the issue is I think *most people* do and there are very few motivating factors to address this

— Kat Tenbarge (@kattenbarge) August 1, 2023

12 yrs ago I wrote about people using their phones at the movies (“using a phone in a darkened movie theater is like lighting a road flare”) and talked to different experts about WHY and *some* of it goes beyond behavioral selfishness & “no home training” https://t.co/Jk2fFV7kkc https://t.co/ahU9V7gvPQ pic.twitter.com/1hTE1Adqj2

— Nina Metz (@Nina_Metz) August 2, 2023

Other people thought the root issue is internet addiction, and that checking one’s phone has become a compulsive habit.

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Re-acclimating

barbie and oppenheimer are bringing out a lot of people who haven’t been to the movie theater since before covid which means I keep having to deal with people sitting in seats they didn’t buy and motherfuckers on their phones https://t.co/UxIfKVbckG

— Cube/Mitchell  (he/him) (@GeekCube_) July 30, 2023

Many people said that “Barbenheimer” was a rare trip to the movies for them and in some cases, the first since 2019. Frequent moviegoers were not pleased with the newcomers.

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Embarrassing

cannot fathom even GLANCING at your phone in a theater. i get the vibe of scrolling while watching youtube at home or whatever but like…… you’re ignoring the movie you spent $20 on ?!?! https://t.co/c23LPBAojt

— 🤖 josh mode 🤖 (@bestiejwa) August 2, 2023

If nothing else, many commenters were surprised that people using their phones in movie theaters weren’t embarrassed to draw that much attention to themselves.

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Explains a Lot

the prevalence of people openly admitting they’re just fully doing other activities on their phones while in a movie theater has at the very least finally given me a definitive answer to when i see a deranged take and think “were we watching the same movie?”

— Jordan Freiman (@JordanFreiman) August 2, 2023

Finally, some people joked that the prevalence of phones in theaters – and presumably during home viewings – explains a lot about the state of film criticism and literacy these days.

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