How your cellphone can have a 'detrimental effect' on your concert experience

Country superstar Miranda Lambert has sparked a debate about appropriate concert behaviour after she stopped her show to call out people taking selfies.

Though some people have applauded Lambert’s move, others believe it was uncalled for and unnecessary.

University of Manitoba professor Christine Van Winkle, who has been researching the way people use mobile devices at music festivals, said it’s extremely common for people to use their phones at concerts these days. However, she said, it can have a negative impact a person’s enjoyment of the show.

Through her research into musical festivals, Van Winkle determined that using a phone for non-festival-related tasks can worsen a person’s experience.

“What we find is when we use our mobile devices to engage with things that have nothing to do with the festival, so we’re calling in to check in on our family or we’re checking work emails, then that actually does affect our overall satisfaction with our festival experience,” she said.

“It does have a detrimental effect on the experience you have when you’re visiting an event like that.”

In Van Winkle’s five years of research, she found that the habit of using a cellphone is so pervasive that people use them even when they don’t intend to.

“We go to these events, focused on the event at hand, but our mobile devices kind of intervene and influence the choices we make,” she explained.

She added she also found that people are impacted by other people’s cellphone use. So if one person picks up their phone to post on social media, then the people around them will also get on their phone even if they have no need to.

“Just that behaviour of having people around them on their phones triggered them to start using their phones,” Van Winkle said.

To find out more about how you can ensure your phone doesn’t interfere with your concert experience watch the full video above.