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I love going to the cinema but unlike when I was younger and I used to go almost every week I now only go a few times a year. Part of this is due to the fact that it is now so expensive to watch a film. The price of the tickets is enough on its own without adding in the cost of food and drink. Unfortunately there is no guarantee that the film itself is going to be any good so you may have just wasted a lot of money on something rubbish. The other reason I don't go very often is due to the decline in etiquette in the audience. It's not just down to teenagers and children, adults can be just as badly behaved.

Mobile phones should be banned from cinemas. If you can't switch it off, then put it on silent. There is no reason for it to be on loud during the movie and to actually answer it and begin a conversation is appalling manners. I'm not a fan of people answering calls in public places anyway where people have to listen to them talking as loud as possible down their phone but it's even worse in the cinema. If you desperately have to make a phone call then leave the screening to do so.

The odd whisper during a film is to be expected but people talking loudly is really annoying. Why spend the money to watch a film which they then insist on talking all the way through? If you want to have a chat, go to the pub. Don't disturb everybody else who are trying to concentrate on what is going on. Then you get the idiots who make comments during the film or answer the characters back. They think they're being funny and don't seem to notice that nobody else is laughing. Show some respect for people and keep quiet.

The other irritating thing is people who keep getting up and down from their seats during the film either to the toilet or to get something to eat. If it's a long film and you start getting desperate halfway through then fair enough but you get people going out in the first five minutes. Why don't they go to the toilet or get their snacks before it starts? Speaking of food and drink, I wish people would make as little noise as possible. Remember that others around you may not want to hear a bag continuously rustling or you slurping your drink.

Manners in the cinema do seem to have deteriorated. The other problem as well is that nowadays people are too frightened to stand up to the troublemakers in case they end up getting a beating afterwards. I really don't know why manners in general have gotten so bad. Maybe children aren't being taught them or people just don't care as much. I would just say to everyone reading this article to please show respect for your fellow moviegoers. There maybe people in the audience who have been waiting to see the film for months and you could be spoiling the experience for them. Save the phone calls and conversations ufor until after you have left the cinema.

Learn more about this author, Rachel Wood.
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