Last time I went to the cinema there was an annoying gang of teenagers having fun in the row two ahead of me. I'm not angry at them; we were all teenagers once. But they were annoying. And the guy to my right thought so too, and let them know. The "movie-going experience" was the drama that this confrontation generated.
Thanks, but no thanks. I'll watch it on my inferior screen, with my inferior sound system, but my massively superior solitude.
a noisy theater was just something that happened in normal life before, it happened, and then we had a little story to gripe to our friends about. but now it seems an intolerable ordeal. the same goes for restaurants vs. take out, visiting friend's/family's house vs. just staying home, etc.
i'm noticing the trend more and more. i'm not sure where it will end up. it doesn't seem as if theaters will ever hold their old place in the cultural zeitgeist again, and maybe the same goes for all other "third places" where other humans will be a bother. that seems kind of sad.
it will keep the behavioral scientists busy for a few decades though.
And frankly it was good to be back at an in person work conference. It was so much better than the virtual crap we've had the last few years.