Cell Phones banished from LCT and The Vineyard... what's next?

Has anyone else experienced this new "no cell phones allowed in the theater - at all - ever" policy?

A few weeks ago I was at The Vineyard seeing Mary Rose. The lights came up for intermission, and thinking I had a good 10-15 minutes of time to waste, I took out my phone to check my voicemail. An usher literally stormed over, leaned across several patrons, and shouted, "Ma'am, you have to put it away, there are no cell phones in the theater. You have to take it outside!"

Then a week later it happened at Dying City. I settled into my seat at about 7:50, and thinking I had a good 10 minutes, I took out my phone to check my voicemail. Again, an usher *ran* down the aisle to scold me. "No cell phones in the theater, you'll have to put it away!"

What gives?? I wasn't texting during the performance. I wasn't chatting as the lights went down. I guess I don't really NEED to use my phone in situations like that, but I certainly don't want to be yelled at by an usher in front of a bunch of strangers. We already have to listen to cutesy or stern announcements about turning them off, complete with ill-considered jokes about the vibrate feature. Must we now keep them shamefully hidden away like moonshine in the prohibition era? What's next, turning them in at a checkpoint, like middle schoolers in the NYC public school system?

On the flip side, it is obviously very annoying to have phones ringing during a show, or to watch people texting away furiously. I've even seen (and heard) people checking their voicemail in the middle of a performance, while half the audience can hear the message playing. I don't want to deal with that crap, but I also don't want to be harassed by rude ushers, or listen to those irritating pre-show announcements that treat audiences like kindergarteners.

The bigger issue here is that it's still up to audience members to use (or not use) cell phones responsibly during performances. Thus, you get human error (ringing phones during shows) resulting in varied sets of "rules", like I experienced at the Vineyard and LCT. The whole thing really needs to be taken out of the hands of the individual patrons, by installing those super-cool cell phone jammer thingies that the Russians are using. Then we can all go back to just getting pissed about candy wrappers and hearing aid feedback like the good old days.

P.S. there's a great article on the whole debaucle here.