Cinemas should not allow texting, talking or checking messages (Texting and cinema etiquette, April 19). These should not be allowed even during previews.
I pay money for the entire moviegoing experience. People must learn proper etiquette for every social situation.
Anita Welch, Abu Dhabi
This is such an easy fix. Each cinema should have a signal jammer that turns on the moment the main feature film starts. Problem solved. No signal for your phone, no texting.
Paul Bruwer, South Africa
Misinterpreted statistics
I have noticed a statistics misuse in one of your articles – The science of happiness produced results most would not anticipate (April 18).
The problem with the article is that the correlation has been used in order to support one possible causation. Namely, it says: “Married people have been shown to be happier on average than those who remain single.
“One reason is that married people are better placed to cope with the vicissitudes of life, like sickness and unemployment – a problem shared, and all that.”
It may be the case, but may not. When a particular (observational) study says “married people are more happy than unmarried (on average)”, can we conclude that a marriage causes people to be more happy? What if it works the other way around? That is, maybe it is the case that on average only happy people get married. Maybe people who are usually sad do not form relationships that lead to marriages.
There are many possible explanations. Therefore, it is not really appropriate to offer readers only one explanation.
The media have the power to make people think in certain ways. Offering readers only one explanation is not a formal mistake, but it clearly encourages them to think this way.
This may seem to be a small thing, however, it makes a huge difference.
Paweł Bednarek, Abu Dhabi
A poor excuse to block apps
Considering the number of low-paid workers in this country, it is bad to deny access to an alternative service for these people to speak with their families (UAE telecoms companies told to free up internet calling, April 19).
You can’t make a VoIP call without a data plan or Wi-Fi, and you can only have data or Wi-Fi if it’s supplied by the two telecoms companies, so they still have an opportunity to sell their product.
Brent William, Dubai
Most people use VPNs to call through apps such as Snapchat and WhatsApp. Rarely do people use cell phone minutes to make international calls. So I don’t see how du or Etisalat generate money from international calling. Rather, if they allow people to use these apps to make calls, they will purchase a higher data plan with more packages.
I am not sure about the security issue. If that’s the case, why are these restrictions not imposed in US, Jordan, Germany and so many other countries?
Abdullah Abu-Gosh, Dubai
There is no security issue at all. It’s all about revenue and wanting to control how people make phone calls. WhatsApp is now 100 per cent encrypted, making it a bigger security risk than Snapchat.
John Paravalos, Dubai
Ability to take stress varies
With regard to the article Over 40? You need a three-day workweek (April 19), I agree that working under pressure can be harmful, but it also depends on an individual's capacity to deal with stress. Some people can take stress more than others.
As for me, I get energy when I work under pressure. It’s all about how ambitious you are. I wish good luck to hard workers.
Amir Maqsood, Ajman
