Why come to a movie theater if you’re not going to watch the movie?

We all had to sit through some boring movies in a theater, the kind of movies that, within the first five minutes, we know are going to be a struggle to get through. Everyone has different tactics for this situation, from walking out of the theater completely to getting comfortable and taking a nap until the movie ends.

While it can be disappointing to find yourself stuck in a dark room for two hours and watch something you have no interest in, you also have to remember that you are not alone there. Other people have paid money to sit in the same room with you and watch the same movie. Just because you find it unworthy of your time doesn’t mean they do.

That is why there is one strategy to deal with a boring movie theater that you should never try, and that is using your phone in a way that might disturb the other movie theater goers. Causing a disturbance to someone else’s experience is the worst way to deal with your boredom, as it is not only mean to other people, but can get you very easily kicked out of the theater altogether. All it takes is one person to whom you are bothering, and you might as well leave the theater all on your own.

When the man in the story below was spending the better half of the screening of Toy Story 5 using his phone, someone had to say something. This man was scrolling through his phone with the full brightness on, with no care about how he might be disturbing the packed theater that actually came to see the movie. It was only after an employee confronted him about it that he even considered his behavior an issue, and still, he refused to back down.

This led him and his entire family to be kicked out of the movie, while the rest of the theater finally got to watch the other half of the movie in peace.