People Are Having A Meltdown After AMC Said It Was Considering "Texting-Friendly" Theaters

"You can’t tell a 22-year-old to turn off their cellphone. That’s not how they live their life."

After multiple reports that AMC Theaters would allow texting in limited theaters to appeal to millennials, everyone immediately began freaking out.

The reports emerged after AMC Entertainment's head Adam Aron told Variety on Wednesday: "You can’t tell a 22-year-old to turn off their cellphone. That’s not how they live their life."

Aron said that he was open to the possibility of having some texting-friendly theaters in an effort to appeal to millennials.

"When you tell a 22-year-old to turn off the phone, don't ruin the movie, they hear please cut off your left arm above the elbow," Aron told Variety.

He said that they would have to come up with a way to implement the idea that "doesn't disturb today's audiences."

"What may be more likely is we take specific auditoriums and make them more texting friendly," Aron said.

The story was picked up by several media outlets, which reported that AMC would soon allow texting in theaters.

And people on the internet had a collective meltdown.

Many threatened to boycott AMC theaters.

Even the most faithful of AMC movie goers were ready to leave and never return.

People were quick to blame the "short-sighted inability of Millennials."

Millennials AKA "idiot kids."

This patron went full Donald Trump on AMC: "Dumb, dumb, dumb idea!!!!!!!"

Others hoped this was all a bad dream.

I must still be asleep & in a nightmare. AMC to allow texting in theatres.... WTF?

Some went a little too far in expressing their anger.

Others employed gentle sarcasm.

This guy just wanted to be immersed in the fantasy of cinematic entertainment.

This person had a valid point.

Has anyone ever seen a customer kicked out of an AMC theater for texting? I haven't.

One idealistic patron listed bigger problems: Rustlers, rude people, sniveling kids, and restrooms.

Some feared the constant chime, chime, chime.

Others predicted a dangerous precedent for the future of cinema: "What's next, leaving the lights on?"

This person was ready to swear off movies altogether having endured enough of the "generation of ZOMBIES!!!!"

Everyone go to Burbank.

There's an AMC in Burbank where the theaters are below ground and cell reception is terrible there. Best place to avoid texting.

Don't open "the Pandora's box," AMC. Don't.

But amid the cacophony, emerged this sole voice of calm and reason.

EVERYONE CALM DOWN.

AMC told BuzzFeed News that it would introduce such a concept only when "we are totally confident that we can fully satisfy the desires of our current guests."

While acknowledging that "there is a growing population that is continuously connected to their phones," AMC said in a statement that it "remain[s] extremely sensitive that the overwhelming majority of our current audience does not want texting to disrupt their experience."

The company said there was no specific time frame as to when it would introduce such a test, "if ever."

Here's the full statement from AMC provided to BuzzFeed News:

It has been reported that AMC is in the earliest stage of exploring an option of someday having a very limited number of texting-friendly auditoriums. However, given that so many of today's moviegoers are passionate about preserving the purity of watching movies undisturbed in our theaters, there is no specific timeframe as to when we might introduce such a test, if ever. While we recognize that there is a growing population that is continuously connected to their phones, above all we also remain extremely sensitive that the overwhelming majority of our current audience does not want texting to disrupt their experience. We would only introduce a concept like this when we are totally confident that we can fully satisfy the desires of our current guests.

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