Your Phone Is Ruining Live Events—Here’s What to Do Instead

This week, I am taking a firm and probably unpopular position: phone-free events are better events. If I wanted to watch a roomful of glowing rectangles while someone sings, tells jokes, or performs Shakespeare, I would stay home and stare into the refrigerator.

The Moth StorySLAM
Thursday, 7:30 p.m. local time
Location: Participating venues nationwide
Cost: Usually $10–$20; parking varies by venue
Kid-friendly: Usually for teens and older, but check the theme

Live storytelling is the perfect phone-free sport because the whole point is watching a stranger attempt emotional honesty under fluorescent lighting. The stories can be hilarious, devastating, or both, and the audience energy is far more entertaining than scrolling through photos of someone else’s brunch.

Local Theater’s “Phones Away” Performance
Friday or Saturday, typically 7–8 p.m.
Location: Independent theaters and performing-arts centers nationwide
Cost: About $20–$60; parking depends on the venue
Kid-friendly: Often, depending on the production

Pick a play, musical, dance performance, or comedy show that explicitly asks audiences to put their phones away. Yes, the request feels severe. Good. Theater should occasionally feel like a place where your smartwatch cannot interrupt a monologue about grief.

Midnight Movie Screening
Friday, 10 p.m. or later
Location: Independent cinemas and repertory film houses nationwide
Cost: Usually $8–$18; parking varies
Kid-friendly: Generally no, unless it is an all-ages classic

A midnight movie is not a film screening; it is a minor lifestyle crisis with popcorn. Leave your phone in your pocket, let the room laugh at the wrong moments, and remember that communal weirdness is the entire reason movies were invented.

Community Dance Night
Saturday, 7 p.m. doors; dancing from 8 p.m.
Location: Grange halls, community centers, and cultural venues nationwide
Cost: $10–$25, often cash-friendly; parking is usually free
Kid-friendly: Yes, especially early in the evening

Go somewhere that teaches a simple dance before turning everyone loose. You will forget the steps, blame the floor, and accidentally make a friend. This is preferable to watching 14 professionally edited videos of people dancing perfectly.

Don’t Miss: The Phone-Free Live Show
Any concert, comedy set, or performance using sealed phone pouches is my pick of the week. It may feel strange for the first ten minutes, like being separated from a small electronic organ, but then the room changes. People laugh louder, performers take more risks, and nobody spends the encore filming a blurry rectangle. Kid-friendly depends on the show; parking depends on the venue, so arrive early and enjoy the radical luxury of being present.

Sleeper Event: The Post-Show Conversation
Stay for the informal discussion after a performance, reading, or film screening. It is usually free, often lightly attended, and gives you the rare chance to hear artists explain what they were trying to do before the internet decides for them.