The lure of the LED screen

Nina Metz, writing for the Chicago Tribune:

While performing in Chicago last month as part of the Just For Laughs festival, comedian Bill Burr spotted an audience member texting in the front row.

It was far from an isolated incident. In fact, it happens so much that Burr now incorporates a whole bit about texting in his act. "I call it the new style of heckling. It used to be that they would yell out at you. Now they just sort of zone out on their phone. I'll say, 'Do you understand that I'm up here dancing like a monkey and you're two feet away like a stenographer? … it's really messing with my ego.'"

People are silently firing up their smartphone screens in darkened theaters everywhere. At the movies. During plays. At concerts. And it shows no sign of going away.

"I always ask, 'What are you texting right now?'" said Burr by phone from Los Angeles. "One guy said, 'I just texted someone and told them you were funny.' It's like, well, can't you do that after the show? It's like they have to — in real time — talk about what's going on their lives."

That compulsion is real, and there are a number of societal, psychological and physiological reasons more and more people are reaching for their smartphones without giving it a second thought — frequently to the irritation of those around them.

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