An Open Letter to the People in Front of Me at the Movie Theater

To: The 3 people sitting in front of me at the movie theater

Hello, my name is Patric Welch. I was sitting directly behind you at the movie theater today. You probably wouldn’t recognize me or even realize that I sat behind you because you were texting and updating Facebook on your phones for the entire duration of the movie.

I’m happy you sat directly in front of me, even though the theater had about 250 open seats and I arrived about 15 minutes before you. Because if you hadn’t sat in front of me, I might not have been able to hear those pleasant “new text message” sounds coming from your phone every 45 seconds.

I also wouldn’t have been able to enjoy the light show your phone put off every time you used it to update Facebook. I enjoyed the extra challenge of trying to watch the movie without being distracted by the constant flash of light from your phone.

It’s also reassuring to know the messages you were sending and receiving on your phone made your friends laugh and smile. I knew this because every time you received a message you giggled and talked out loud to your friends while you passed your phones along to each other to share.

Incidentally, the movie we were at was called The Blind Side and it was one of my favorite movies of the year. It might have been your favorite too had you watched more than 10 minutes of the movie.

P.S. The money I spent on the movie wasn’t a complete waste. After seeing you enter your security code on your phone at least 30 times, I finally was able to commit it to memory. I suggest keeping your phone close to you for a while.