An AMC theater in Arlington is sending a message to teenagers who use text messaging during movies.

Talk may be cheap, but text messaging could cost you the price of a movie ticket.

This past weekend, teenagers who were using text messaging were escorted out of The Parks at Arlington mall’s 18-screen AMC theater by off-duty police officers.

“All we’re promoting is a distraction-free environment,” said Nate Reid, the theater’s general manager. He added that the policy has been enforced since the theater opened in 2002. “We have a very high teenage audience. It really is a problem with the teenage audience.”

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Reid said many movie patrons find lights from cellphones, which are used to send and receive text messages, distracting.

AMC enforces a “Silence is Golden” policy. According to AMC’s corporate Web site, this is a “proactive national program aimed at providing a distraction-free moviegoing experience … Employees actively monitor auditoriums to ensure a quiet moviegoing experience. An entertaining pre-feature trailer is also in place to remind guests of the importance of this message.”

I’ve noticed this sort of thing a few times during my infrequent visits to theaters.  Given the price of going to the movies these days, I’ve always wondered what point there was to going to a movie if you aren’t going to pay attention.  But more importantly, the lights can be annoying as some phones are bright enough to be used as flashlights. 

I’m glad to see a theater taking a stand on this.  Perhaps if more theaters began taking action to crack down on the texters, phoners, loud talkers, and babies/small children at inappropriate movies I might consider going more often.