The problem I want to talk about is certainly as old as mobile phones, the Internet and video calling capabilities on phones. I have nothing against phones or video calls, because in many situations they make communication and work much easier, but there are times when such things are completely inappropriate. For this reason, very unpleasant moments had to be experienced at the recent concert of the band “bet bet” in Aizkraukle. Although at the beginning of the concert, Siegfried Muktupável said that the audience can do anything at their concerts, he hardly meant to call a friend or relative on a video call during each song and play them a song. Unfortunately, the two ladies sitting in front must have understood Siegfried’s call in exactly the same way. Therefore, during one of the songs, I and the people sitting next to me were forced to look at a woman who, while sitting at the dinner table, was brushing her teeth and listening to the melody already dedicated to her. The next song, on the other hand, was dedicated to a bald man who was fidgeting in front of a phone camera. Then a few more songs for some distant listeners.
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Someone might say – what are you spying on someone else’s phone? I agree, I tried not to do it and to focus on what was happening on the stage, but the communication at the very tip of my nose was so loud and conspicuous that it was impossible not to look at someone else’s phone. I wouldn’t mind if it happened during an outdoor concert. If I didn’t like the behavior of the people standing next to me, I would step aside so that I could enjoy the concert in peace. But this time, sitting in my seat in the hall, I just had nowhere to run. For us, several spectators, part of the concert was spoiled, but both young ladies left the hall satisfied with the event they enjoyed.
Gunta Krasta, a teacher of business etiquette, points out that there are times when you can do without a phone, and these are definitely concerts and cinema, church, museum and library visits. In Latvia, in many cultural places before the event there is a call to turn off mobile phones, but as the event organizers admit, many put the silence mode on, but continue to surf the Internet and social networks, thus the feeling of the event is spoiled both for the artists and the spectators sitting next to them. For example, the National Theater in London has a blocked zone for mobile communications – as soon as you enter the theater, both the zone for the phone and access to the wireless Internet disappear. In Latvia, such an innovation has not been heard of, so everything depends only on the culture of the visitors.
