Leader comment: Jack White's right '“ live your life, don't film it

Following the success of a 'phone-free' Jack White concert, the Usher Hall in Edinburgh is set to hold regular gigs where the audience is required to put their phones in lockable pouches to prevent them from being used during the performance.

Jack White plays the Usher Hall in Edinburgh, where mobile phones had to be placed in lockable pouches

So it seems, like naughty toddlers, we can’t be trusted not to play with our favourite toys at inappropriate moments.

Rock musicians, in particular, have long complained that mobile phones ruin the atmosphere and performances at concerts – somehow we seem to realise it’s not appropriate to start filming at a classical recital or during a church service.

Now the Usher Hall in Edinburgh has decided that it will stage regular “phone free” concerts in future following the apparent success of a Jack White gig in which those among the audience who didn’t leave their phones at home had to place them out of reach inside a lockable pouch to ensure they didn’t succumb to temptation.

It seems like quite a lot of trouble to have to go to and the sort of step that shouldn’t really need to be taken. But, it appears, it does. Polite requests are sadly not enough.

White said he wanted people to “live in the moment”, to enjoy the performance while experiencing it, not record it for some point in the future. It almost seems like a novel idea these days.