But he might drive it to the theater. Why? Couldn't he do what they used to do? No. That wouldn't work. There would have been no theater.
"But he might drive it to the theater. Why? Couldn't he do what they used to do? "
Your point is? Of course. He might take the subway to the theater, walk, ride the bus, or even a bicycle. I've done all of those to go to the movies.
The point is that none of the ways he might get to the theater is going to encroach on any other theatergoer while the film is running.
Your Blackberry will. That backlight will appear quite bright in a darkened theater. It will most certainly annoy me if you're sitting next to me.
I enjoy movies. I watch them closely. Your brightly-lit Blackberry is going to get about 5 seconds before I request that you shut it off. I'll even be polite. If you do not shut it off, then you risk my taking it from you and kicking it under the seat in front of me.
You'll be able to retrieve it after the movie, assuming someone hasn't trod upon it.
OTOH, if you turn it off when the movie starts, none of that will happen. We'll both enjoy the film. If you don't care about the movie, then why did you attend?
Leave your tecno-crap off when you're in a darkened theater, please.
No one cares that you own a Blackberry, laptop, or electronic You Sunk My Battleship. Just to your using them in the theater next to them.
I'm sure they would be just as annoyed if you used a stock ticker or carrier pigeons. If your job is too important for you to be unavailable for 2.5 hours then you need to be available. You are getting paid to be on call 24/7, the guy next to you in the "darkened" theater isn't. In fact he's paying to be in a "darkened" theater.
Perhaps the solution is to offer to pay your fellow theater goers to be on call with you.