Man hits teen over phone dispute on plane.

I feel old when I read stories like this. I have to accept that I have turned into a grown up, and even though I’m in my 50’s, I’d like to believe I’m a rebellious youth. But I’m not. I’m like my parent- telling the kids they better follow the rules! The other way to think about this, is to recognize just how utterly discourteous and abrasive our culture has become. both this kid acted horribly, and so did the older guy.

Miller told police that the 15-year-old boy refused to turn off his phone after directions from the flight crew. The suspect “felt he was protecting the entire plane and its occupants,” Lipple said.

I went to see a movie a few weeks ago with my partner at the local AMC/Lowe’s Theater. They have reserved seating, which has a premium cost, but the seats are big and comfortable, you have more room around you, and you the seating is assigned, so no need to camp out to get a good seat. We were the only folks in the reserved seating area, until a few minutes after the film had started, a father, mother, and two kids came in and sat down in the row in front of us. Frequently people do that- they have regular seats, but try and sneak up to the reserved seating after the film has started. They were quite noisy and disruptive, and my partner asked the movie attendant, but he said they belonged there. However, the disruption was the smallest inconvenience. Then someone in the group starts using their smartphone-like device which glowed so bright and was a new level of disruption and discourtesy.

Because I had just paid an enormously high price to watch a 3D movie in a reserved seating section, I couldn’t let this go, as the smartphone screen interfered with my movie viewing. I walked over to the person (turned out to be the father) and ask him to turn off his phone of I would cause trouble and get the movie attendant. For a second, I thought he was going to start a fight with me, but I turned around and sat back down. He then left the area (to get the attendant?), but never came back. His family watched the rest of the film silently, as did my partner and I. I don’t know what I would have done if this guy had started a fight or further commotion. I hadn’t thought that through. I just wanted to ask him to turn off his device.

I was also recently at a different movie theater, where it was clear that there were folks through out the theater texting all through the film. A kid- probably 16 or 17 next to me was at least trying to keep the phone covered, but it was still a bit distracting. In this case, the theater was backed, and it was all “regular” seating. The kid was with 3 other “dudes, and I didn’t feel comfortable even saying anything to him.

Why is it that our society seems to value rules and courtesy so little. As if people are entitled to do whatever they want, where ever they want? Leave a comment and let me know what you think?

via Police: Man hits teen over phone dispute on plane – CNN.com.