i attended our high school graduation today, and a post that beachy had in the baseball thread made me do this one.

i thought it was just at concerts and baseball games, but i was amazed today at how many people were getting up and down during the ceremony. kids running across the bleachers, babies crying, and many many adults just getting up out of their seats to go wherever.

i assure you all this, the entire ceremony, start to finish took 1 hour and 10 minutes. it started at noon. ended at 1:10. please explain to me why a grown person cannot sit still for an hour and a half? i just don't get it. and i am seeing it more and more at all kinds of events.

it is really bad in windsor ontario at concerts. there is a constant flow of people getting up and down during a show, that never ever ends we no longer take floor seats when offered in windsor because of the constant barrage of humans walking in front of us.

does this happen in church too? (haven't been in one for quite a long time)

the world is so different than it used to be.

I got up in the middle of Renny's post.

And those who were sitting the whole time were probably watching their smart phones 98% of the time.

I attended a church event this past week and yes, a woman got up twice during the ceremony/mass where I had to adjust out of my seat.

When I attend concerts and get the aisle seat, I have to be prepare to constantly get up and down letting people In and out all night long.

People must have very weak bladders these days.

And I sat down in your seat. But before you came back, I got up.

I held it during Avengers: Endgame!

interesting........we don't do movie theaters, does it happen often in there too?

And ADHD.

Movie theaters around here don't have that problem because we have recliners so their is plenty of room to pass by, unlike the old movie theater seats.

Heh. Me, too.

People are so used to home entertainment whether on TV or their computer that I think it's just ingrained to them, without their even realizing it that they can do whatever they want as if they're at home. If they're not at home, they still do it with either a conscious or unconscious "fuck you" attitude to everyone else who's around. Tickets aren't sold for graduations but certainly for concerts and sporting events, the attitude is, "I paid for my ticket and I can do what I want to." This is a big reason why I no longer attend such events.

I think the reason is simple: coffee.
We have an extreme coffee culture, and no one really bothers with fluid management in anticipation of events that may last a couple hours.

When I work live camera gigs, whether sports events or graduations, for example, I avoid coffee on those days, and I limit even water consumption for a couple hours prior to kickoff or whatever. Trying to find and use a convenient bathroom without a long line and get back to your position when you only have half of a halftime can be one of the biggest challenges you'll suffer all day at some venues. There is absolutely nothing worse than having to pee in the third quarter of football game in which the clock just crawls with incomplete passes, penalties, useless timeouts and injuries. I will do much the same thing before today's long movies, and won't start sipping on the soft drink till after the movie starts.

Fluid management is the key.

For some reason, this does not happen in theaters in which live plays or musicals are being performed. I really don't know why, but I speculate that it's out of consideration for the actors and/or fear of one of the actors objecting. Patti LuPone is notorious in this regard, but I've seen other cases where an actor has really lain into an audience member for being disruptive. If so, it's telling that people care so little about their fellow audience members and so much more about the performers.

In any case, I have also stopped attending live events too. The other reason is that people just don't stop talking - either to each other or on their phones. It's often impossible to focus on the performance with half a dozen extraneous conversations going on around you.

Yep too many liquids is a big reason. I always hit the head right before a show and have stopped drinking during a concert or movie. I usually don't want to miss a thing.

I'm very bad for this - one of the reasons I always have the set list up is so I can see a good window to make a trip. And I prefer aisle seats, both because I can get out without irritating a lot of people, and because aisles generally provide more elbow room and better sight lines anyway.

Caffeine is a bladder irritant, so an increase in caffeine can really increase the urge. This is especially bad in movies where the salt from the popcorn creates thirst, and the massive pops (sodas for all you yanks) makes for a lot of caffeine
Alcohol and caffeine are diuretics, so increase the urge, while also putting a lot of excess volume in the system.
The demographics of people attending shows we like tend to match us, and our capacity get worse as we get older.

I know I can take too many pictures while at concerts, but I almost never text people when the show is on, and even have a history of ignoring people I went with because I'm paying attention to the artist. Concerts (and movies) are just too expensive now not to live in the moment of the show. Even if I'm not a fan of the band (openers mainly), I still try to give them my attention.

The reason why I think it happens less in formal theatre is because it's more inconvenient to get in and out of older seats, it's generally only a 90 minute period until intermission, and people know they just can't go back to their seats; they have to wait until a clear moment in the performance.

I've always wondered why people pay all of that money for tickets and then go to the event to talk, to drink beer and/or to piss all night.