Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Jack White bans phones at gigs for “100% human experience”

nme.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

391–400 of 545 posts

Re: Jack White bans phones at gigs for “100% human experience”

#391

Post by lostgame »

reubenswartz wrote: post #306
alangibson wrote: post #287

While I'm definitely on Jack's side spiritually, Yondr is not an efficient solution. We need to consciously and intentionally establish a norm of 'no phones' in certain group situations, just like how many areas have established a norm of 'no smoking'. And, yes, it's true that 'no smoking' often has local law to help drive the idea home, but it's not like there's a cop monitoring the smoking situation in every public…

Yeah, I think a similar video played before the start of the show, about how you paid all this money to be here, why see it through a small screen as if you were on YouTube, combined with a few people actually getting kicked out, would work wonders. They can have a moment in the show for everyone who "needs" a picture or a brief video can take one. And just let everyone know that the whole show will be on YouTube in…

>> And just let everyone know that the whole show will be on YouTube in good quality later-- no need to take your own.

Um, it increases costs a lot to film a show, you realize this, right?

And if the show was available on YouTube for free, don't you think it would potentially impact sales?

Re: Jack White bans phones at gigs for “100% human experience”

#392

Post by ehnto »

davb wrote: post #87

I experienced the Yondr phone prison last night for the first time (at a Chris Rock show). While I detest people being disruptive with their phones, I don’t think this is the right solution. From a practical standpoint, it took a lot longer to get into and out of the venue when phones had to be locked up. Checking your phone when you pop out to the toilet meant waiting in a queue to have your phone unlocked, and bein…

Of course it is inconvenient, that is kind of the point. To make it harder to use you get to forget about using it. That comes with trade offs, some of them pretty serious.

Going anywhere without a phone is about the whole experience, not just the watching the artist but all the time inbetween too. You don't get to escape the world to a phone, even for a moment, and when things get boring you have to find interest in what's around you.

Your phone is a mental portal to all other things in your life and by having it within reach your mind likes to weasel out of wherever it currently is into those other spaces, even when you don't pick the phone up. It is an interspatial, intertemporal hyper distraction machine and it robs people of being engaged for long periods of time without interruption. Those moments inbetween sets where you have to just be with your friends, that is part of it, when you have to organise how to find eachother after a toilet break, also part of it.

Keep in mind, some people are way better at managing their phones interruption than others, and it doesn't affect them like that. So perhaps the no phone thing isn't 100% for your benefit, but you still have to endure the troubles it takes.

I get the feeling this will be a divisive topic. I am willing to endure the pains because I really really don't want a phone or anyone else to have theirs at the venue. Some people don't feel that way, so the logical pros and cons we can both describe will matter differently and we will find it hard to agree!

I totally agree about emergencies, but for me that's a risk I am willing to take on. Just like I would go hiking with no phone and you perhaps might not.

Re: Jack White bans phones at gigs for “100% human experience”

#393

Post by lostgame »

jgrowl wrote: post #175
gyrgtyn wrote: post #166

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Someone at a ROCK SHOW blocking your view with a phone? just push them out of the way and stand in front of them.

They were in stadiums with assigned seating. Which is also a reason why I don't go to those kinds of shows very often. They feel so sanitized.

Soooooo sanitized. I saw Gorillaz at the Air Canada Centre this year and felt like a zoo animal.

Re: Jack White bans phones at gigs for “100% human experience”

#394

Post by scoggs »

blattimwind wrote: post #359
ccallebs wrote: post #333

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It's interesting they didn't have confidence in the babysitter's ability to take care of you for an evening but still chose to hire them and then monitored them via payphone. No one questioned the babysitter's competence. They're your children -- you're going to want to call and check to see how things are going.

Uhm, yes you are, and pretty clearly at that.

No, not really. If someone goes out for drinks, then dinner, then a show and the night is going really well maybe the parents want to call and check in. They want to see how the nights going for the babysitter and kid. Are the kids asleep? Is the babysitter content to make some more money for a few extra hours? I think that's all entirely reasonable. It really has little to do with the matter at hand but having to wait in a line to submit or retrieve your phone, be sequestered to a penned in area to use your phone, and then to have to wait in line again to put your phone back into that "prison" system again seems like overkill. I know that's the only way we've been able to identify that works but I don't think there is any surefire method that will not only please the artists / performers and keep the viewers / fans / people in attendance happy.

Re: Jack White bans phones at gigs for “100% human experience”

#395

Post by trgv »

loeg wrote: post #354
to_bpr wrote: post #314

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Compulsive, addiction driven behaviour due to the gamification of apps and basic services? I say let's remove that from our experience.

You're free to make your own choices, but not to inflect them on others.

Of course it's not quite that simple. People using phones at a concert affects everyone's experience. This is a godsend for some of us. It absolutely detracts from my experience in theaters, concerts, shows, etc when everyone has a phone out.

My feeling is that this is a valid choice for artists to make, and if you disagree then avoid shows where this is the policy.

Re: Jack White bans phones at gigs for “100% human experience”

#396

Post by drngdds »

donretag wrote: post #82
illegalsmile wrote: post #46

I think his statement "If they can’t give me that energy back? Maybe I’m wasting my time." is thoughtful. Jack is old enough to have gone to and performed shows in his youth where cells phone were rare if there were any. He performs not only for the music but for the energy of the crowd. A crowd that's now placed a screen between themselves and the performer taking away that energy or removing that sense of connectio…

Many of us old enough remember that cameras were often banned from venues, even non professional ones. It wasn't until camera enabled phones became popular that this rule was dropped. I have no idea why someone would want to watch a performance from behind a screen.

>I have no idea why someone would want to watch a performance from behind a screen.

Sometimes people like to film or take pictures of things that are really cool to remember them by or show their friends

Re: Jack White bans phones at gigs for “100% human experience”

#397

Post by habosa »

I honestly hope every single concert goes this way. I go to a lot of concerts (~15 concerts and a big festival in a normal year). I have noticed that there is so little real connection between the musician and the audience anymore. Everyone is just talking to their friends (over the music) and waiting for the one big hit to come on so they can fill their Snapchat story.

A concert is a really special thing. Music is the only popular art form where we can really be there and connect to the artist. When you're at a show where the band and the crowd connect you can tell it's something special. Read any interview with a popular musician and they'll tell you the same.

So let's put our phones down and listen.

A side note: this is made much better when artists offer video/audio recordings of their shows after the fact. I honestly don't get why every single artist doesn't offer to sell soundboard recordings. Jam bands (notably Phish) have been making tons of money this way. You can give everyone who came to the show a free download and let those who couldn't be there oay for it. That removes one major need people have for their phones.

Re: Jack White bans phones at gigs for “100% human experience”

#398

Post by musage »

ccallebs wrote: post #333
whatyoucantsay wrote: post #320

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's interesting they didn't have confidence in the babysitter's ability to take care of you for an evening but still chose to hire them and then monitored them via payphone. Most times when babysitters are hired, now or a generation ago, they're trusted to make reasonable decisions so the parents don't have to worry.

> It's interesting they didn't have confidence in the babysitter's ability to take care of you for an evening but still chose to hire them and then monitored them via payphone. No one questioned the babysitter's competence. They're your children -- you're going to want to call and check to see how things are going.

> They're your children -- you're going to want to call and check to see how things are going.

If you think that's "obvious", then explain why. Because as you put it, it's just false, not everybody does that. Not every kid would stand for it, either.

For one because the competence of a babysitter includes handling emergencies, making the practical use of randomly "checking in" (from some remote location) moot, but what's more, it's randomly checking in -- and not actually trusting the competence of the babysitter and having a cell phone with you so they can call you when there is a problem (you can actually help with). Don't dress up neediness as utility and wisdom, badly.

Re: Jack White bans phones at gigs for “100% human experience”

#399

Post by banhfun »

habosa wrote: post #397

I honestly hope every single concert goes this way. I go to a lot of concerts (~15 concerts and a big festival in a normal year). I have noticed that there is so little real connection between the musician and the audience anymore. Everyone is just talking to their friends (over the music) and waiting for the one big hit to come on so they can fill their Snapchat story. A concert is a really special thing. Music is t…

People enjoy concerts for different reasons and in different ways. I don’t see why we should deny them the freedom just because you appreciate events different.

Re: Jack White bans phones at gigs for “100% human experience”

#400

Post by masonic »

loeg wrote: post #354
to_bpr wrote: post #314

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Compulsive, addiction driven behaviour due to the gamification of apps and basic services? I say let's remove that from our experience.

You're free to make your own choices, but not to inflect them on others.

This is exactly why performers seek to stop video recording in the first place.

Or part of why. There are several motivators:

1) use of the recording that could cost paying attendance in the future (e.g. copyright issues)

2) damage control of statements that they regret later (e.g. Michael Richards' racist rant)

3) Protection of the interests of all the attendees positioned behind and around you. When anybody is recording, view from directly behind is outright obscured, and the experience of everybody behind you, where you are in their field of view at all, is impaired by this lit-up screen facing them. People who are recording are inflicting their choice on all others behind them.

Post reply on HN