playing on your phone at the cinema ...... join the bad mums club

For once this weeks Bad Mums post is NOT about me.  I was the model mumy this week.  I took the boys to the cinema on Saturday (Cineworld) to watch their Movies for Juniors showing.



These are a fab price at £1.35 each (bought online an hour before leaving the house, with Mycineworld 10% discount) and means even with the extortionate cost of snacks (£6 for a drink and popcorn)  I can treat the boys once in a while.  The film of choice today was Frozen which is something mummy has secretly been wanting to see for a while, just to find out what the hype was all about.



I didn't think the boys would enjoy it (they aren't huge Disney fans **shock horror** and it looked very girly) but Ben specifically requested to watch it ...my review will be up soon... needless to say "do you want to build a snowman" will be in for head for ages.

We sneaked in while the trailers were on, thanks to exceedingly slow counter staff and the fact that as soon as more people started serving they ignored those queuing and went to any newcomers (we watched 5 others get served before us and we were the 2nd people there!!!).We found a spare 3 seats not too far away from the front with a good view (as didn't have any hands to carry boosters for the boys) -  checked my phone was switched off and we settled down for the showing.

Now I am the first to admit I need surgically removing from my mobile phone, I have been known to quickly check it discretely in my bag midway through a film to check the babysitter hasn't killed the kids or anything disastrous but it's never taken out and the light is well covered.   But not the lady next to me ..... her phone didn't leave her hand from the time we sat down to the time we left.  I could see the screen over the top of Noah and her little girl...... she spent at least half the showing on facebook and when she did switch that off she was texting someone (it was a samsung - you could see the bubbles of speech).  At one point in the showing it was 12.03 ...... how could I tell ...... well she'd checked the time on her screen!!!
   I could see her child trying to get her attention at one point and she was completely ignored.

Now I understand that mummy  may not have been interested in the film but when you have a dark cinema with a phone light permanently displayed that is disrespectful to everyone else who has paid for a ticket.  Years ago there used to be a member of staff who was in the screening who would take on board any anti-social behaviour .... it was not an option for me to uproot my boys and head down 3 floors to the foyer to complain... nor should I have HAD to.

Perhaps I am missing something?  Can you no longer just enjoy a film in the dark?? There was an advert for CineMe in the endless trailers where users can use their mobiles to interact with the adverts, tho it claims not to work once the film has started.  The DCM (digital cinema media group) discusses on it's webpage 3 films that encourage cinema goers to USE THEIR PHONE during the film..........

- In  September 2013 Disney "held a promotion in the US where movie-goers were encouraged to bring iPads to watch the re-release of 1989′s The Little Mermaid. They watched the film while simultaneously playing “Second Screen Live: The Little Mermaid App” on their Apple devices."

- There was a Gernan horror film in 2010 called  "Last Call" that  "asked willing members of the audience to enter their mobile phone numbers on a speed dial database so that, at a point in the film, they could be called to choose from a variety of options facing a key character"

- Earlier in 2014 a Dutch horror movie, "App" required audience ,members "to download a free app to their phones and interact with it as the film played."

For me, the historic "Please switch your phones off signs" are there for a reason ..... just because you have it on silent doesn't mean you can sit and play with it for the entire 2 hours.