So, here’s the scene:
You’re sitting in Starbucks, you’ve got a nice two minutes of peace assured because you’ve just purchased an overpriced cookie for your toddler to enjoy while you suck back a Christmas Blend coffee, and then … oh wait, what the? The guy over on the next table is watching Game of Thrones on his iPad and a racy, sex scene has just come on the screen. Naturally, your toddler is captivated by the moving pictures and is staring right at this guy’s laptop as this scene starts to unroll.
Do you:
A) Just keep drinking that coffee. You can probably get a good 5 extra minutes of quiet coffee-drinking now.
B) Politely ask the guy to turn his screen away or, better yet, turn the show off, while doing a Vanna White hand motion towards your toddler, so that he gets the hint.
C) Cough really loudly, while doing the Vanna White thing noted above, in the hopes that you can avoid a confrontation.
D) Simply get up and find another seat away from the iPad’s skin-baring scenes. It’s his quiet coffee time too, after all.
When I was first asked this question by a reporter with The Star, I basically shrugged my shoulders and opted for Option A. Hey, it’s not like it’s an R-rated thing … it’s a television show, right? How bad can it be? (Granted, I’ve never actually seen the show Game of Thrones. I don’t think it gets played on my crummy cable package.)
But when the article went live today, I brought up the topic at the family dinner table. Hubby took a firm stance that one has an obligation when in public to view only things of a PG-rated nature. I thought, sure, that’s what he and I would do … but does a stranger have this obligation to our children? I wasn’t so sure.
So then he said: What if someone was walking down the street naked? Sure, they have the right to be naked, but not in a public space. It’s the same thing.
Well, not really, I countered, because public nudity is actually against the law. But watching something on your own private screen? Nope.
Okay, he said: What if someone is sitting loudly in that same Starbucks and swearing a blue streak?
Now, that is on par, in my opinion. Many people, myself included, don’t swear in public out of respect for the other people around them. It’s the same with what you view on your laptop screen. In a Starbucks, one has the option of moving away. But on a plane? Not so much.
Like most things, I am now a touch undecided. I know that I definitely wouldn’t watch anything that isn’t appropriate for all in public. But who knows, instead of finding me sitting peacefully in a local Starbucks, you could find me coughing up my coffee while madly undertaking a less-than-graceful Vanna White impersonation.
What do you think? Would you say something in this scenario I’ve described above? What if, like Tanis Miller in the article, you end up unwittingly being the offending laptop viewer? Do you freeze, clap the laptop lid down like a clam, or just shrug and keep enjoying your show?
Speak Your Mind