Blogger Calls 911 To Report Emergency Texting In Movie Screening

Blogger Calls 911 To Report Emergency Texting In Movie Screening

If you believe the Internet, the debate about whether or not the use of cell phones should be allowed in movie theaters is one of the most significant and polarizing debates of our time. Otherwise, at least for me, I don’t want to put exhausted words in your mouth, it is difficult to allocate any energy towards the argument about the detrimental effect of seeing a lighted screen in your peripheral vision while you’re trying to watch One Direction: This Is Us (the only movie) when other things* are going on? At the very least, when other things just in our own lives are going on. I’m sure someone in your family needs you to worry about them! Relax. Who has the extra energy? This guy, in this article from Huffington Post, has the extra energy, but who else and why and also how?

A movie blogger irate about cellphone usage during a Toronto International Film Festival screening called 911 to report the offense.

At a midnight screening Monday, FirstShowing.net blogger Alex Billington became increasingly annoyed by constant texting and emailing at a screening for press and film industry members. After first complaining to theater managers, Billington took the extreme step of dialing the police.

He said the emergency dispatcher laughed at his complaint, but Billington took to Twitter to vent his anger. He claimed to be concerned that the movie, the horror film “The Sacrament,” was being pirated, and that “drastic measures” were called for in restoring moviegoing etiquette.

Billington clarified with BuzzFeed that he called 911 not to complain about texting, necessarily, but because he thought he “might be witnessing an act of piracy, a major crime, being committed.” “Oh. Well, that’s fair,” said the person with the life-threatening emergency trying to get through to 911. Hahah. Ugh. What did 911 say to you when you called to report people using cell phones in your local movie theater? Were they more helpful, or did you get kind of the same reaction? Leave your 911 transcripts in the ‘mments, and always remember: WORRY ABOUT YOURSELF! (Image via Shutterstock.)

*I’m not trying to use Syria as a thoughtless catch-all for reasons why one shouldn’t worry about seemingly insignificant things — though it wouldn’t be a particularly bad catch-all — but no one needs a million links to remind them about the world we live in. You get it.

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