A recent series of posts on the Technology In The Arts blog explores the question of mobile phones in arts audiences by pitching the “good or evil” debate as the core issue. Ultimately, the second post goes beyond “good or evil” and points toward other questions. First, is cellular telephone etiquette something arts programmers must navigate beyond the ‘on/off’ binary that has been the norm up until now. And, second, what sort of “responsibilities” come along with the rather marked increase in mobile computing & communicating power that has come to define (in many ways) the contemporary world (not for everyone, certainly, but it’s a dominant concept).
Here is the full second post in the series, the one that explores the “pros” of cellular telephone technology in the contexts of arts audiences.
I’m not sure where I stand on this, as I’m certainly guilty of employing my phone while in ‘audience’ settings. But, I’m also one to get irritated when someone is blabbing away on their phone while I (and presumably others) are trying to listen, appreciate, engage with whatever programming happens to be going on at the moment. And while not everyone has them, smart/powerful phones are steering cultural discourse at the moment and will likely continue to do so for the time being.