What’s the deal with the idiots wearing Bluetooth earpieces at a dance recital?

On the Saturday that just passed, our family was at the Palace Theatre for our daughters dance recital.  They had a lot of fun and really enjoyed their time performing on stage.  One thing that annoyed me were the people who insisted on wearing their Bluetooth headsets during the performance.  With the lights lowered, the blue lights blinking were a major distraction.

Don’t these people know that they look like dorks wearing their blue light idiot badges in a performance hall?  You wouldn’t answer the phone (well, you shouldn’t) at a dance recital, that would be rude and disrespectful to the performers and their family and friends.  One of the mothers in my younger daughter’s class was wearing one.  I kept thinking, “Are you out of your mind?”.  I had to stand near her because all of the girls had rows assigned to their classes.  Out of the corner of my eye, I kept seeing this blue light blinking and it was very distracting.

Blue LEDs are brighter than other colors and in a dark room, they will draw your attention.  Our brains are wired that way.  In my home office, my PC’s case has a couple of blue LED’s and they light up the room.  No need for night lights in my office.  Between the brightness and how our eyes perceive the color blue, bright blue LEDs can cause eye strain.

I have a Bluetooth headpiece, but I only use it in the car.  I don’t have anything against Bluetooth technology, but there is a time and place for everything.  And a dance recital is neither the time nor the place.  Think about it for a minute, it’s not practical to use a Bluetooth earpiece in performance hall.  If someone calls you, you wouldn’t want to take the call in your seat, you would walk out to the lobby to take the call.  You would be better off just to set the phone to vibrate and keep it in your pocket.

Unless they are wearing the earpiece as a fashion accessory.  “Hey, look at me!  I have a device embedded in my ear advertising my dorkness every two seconds”.  Come on, if you want to carry a techno device to look cool, you’re 4 years too late with Bluetooth.  If that’s what you want, then get an iPhone, it’s new enough to make you look cool. 

As a side note, a few weeks ago I saw some guy with Bluetooth earpieces in both ears.  We called it “Double-dorking”.