5 reasons why watching movies on your smartphone is stupid

1. It's inconvenient

When you watch a movie in the movies or in front of the TV, you can sit as you please. But the telephone is another matter. Due to its small size, it will have to be kept on weight all the time, in front of your eyes. This makes the hand tired, and the need to monitor its position distracts from viewing. A smartphone is not a heavy thing, but holding it for an hour and a half in a row, even periodically changing your hand, is not very pleasant.

If you put the gadget, for example, on your knees, you will be forced to watch a movie with your head down. And now the neck will begin to numb.

A good option is to buy a smartphone holder with a long flexible handle. However, if you take it with you on public transport or an airplane, you will look a little extravagant.

2. It is unhealthy

Sitting in an uncomfortable position with a smartphone for a long time is not only uncomfortable, but also unhealthy - especially if you watch movies like that on a regular basis. Kenneth Hansrai, a New York-based surgeon, studied the Assessment of stresses in the cervical spine caused by posture and position of the head and how it affects the cervical vertebrae. He claims What Texting Does to the Spine that when you tilt your head 30 degrees toward your mobile screen, a force of 40 pounds is applied to your spine - that's about 18 extra pounds.

People are adapted to keeping their head straight, and tilting it for a long time is harmful. Hansrai says this leads to unnecessary stress on the spine, numbness and pain, as well as degradation of the neck muscles. And if you hold your smartphone straight in front of you in your hand, then you run the risk of earning the Cubital Tunnel Syndrome, the so-called cubital tunnel syndrome (compression of the ulnar nerve).

In addition, looking at the screen for a long time, looking at small details, is not very good for vision. The blue light emitted from the smartphone screen causes Blue light excited retinal intercepts cellular signaling to degrade the macula in the retina.

3. It degrades the movie experience

Even if you have a gadget with a very high-quality display, it still cannot compare with a TV, and even more so with a cinema screen, simply because of its size. You will not get the same sensations from the picture and special effects on a smartphone, and it will be harder for you to see the small details.

Hardly anyone will deny that watching a blockbuster in IMAX and on a gadget that fits in your hand are completely different things.

In addition, the smartphone is a significant distraction because it encourages the owner to do more than one thing at the same time. Nothing is easier than switching from a video player to a browser or messenger. And this disturbs the perception of the film. And, as the study on Higher Media Multi-Tasking Activity Is Associated with Smaller Gray-Matter Density in the Anterior Cingulate Cortex shows, it badly affects the brain, gradually killing our ability to focus.

4. It devalues art

A trip to the cinema (it does not matter, alone or in a pleasant company) is always at least a small event. When you go to the cinema, you have a clear intention to watch a movie and not do anything else. And if you are going to enjoy your favorite series in front of the TV, then specially set aside an evening for this, setting yourself in advance for a pleasant pastime.

Smartphones are great for watching movies in between times. With them, you can do it anywhere (in a traffic jam, on a long trip, in line, at work), while doing something else.

It's good if you are watching the next episode of a soap opera to kill time. But a movie that claims to be something more is perceived on the phone in a completely different way from the director intended.

5. It kills all the efforts of the director

Many well-known creators objected to the desire of viewers to watch their films on their phones. David Lynch, for example, very strongly opposed small screens of gadgets back in 2006.

If you watch a movie on your phone, you will never, even after a trillion years, actually watch a movie. You will think that you have looked, but you will be deceived. This is very sad. You think you've watched the movie on your damn phone! Be realistic!

David Lynch.

Martin Scorsese, who directed the sensational "Irishman" recently, also does not want his films to be watched on gadgets.

If you would like to watch one of my films, or any film in general, then please, please do not look on your phone. Maybe at least on a big iPad.

Martin Scorsese.

A director that he would like to shoot a picture specifically for smartphones, but just does not know how to do it. Spike Lee is that film crews spend a huge amount of energy on small details in the frame. On small screens, all of their work will go unnoticed.

All these cinematographers can be understood. When making a film, the director tries to evoke certain emotions in the viewer and expects that he will be watched in the cinema, and not in the minibus.