So why did it change? Was it because of video, which got us used to watching films in our own homes, where we could chatter as much as we liked? Or was it a change in social attitudes which encouraged people to do whatever they wanted, and to hell with everyone else? Mobile phones didn't help, though didn't reach their apogee of annoyingness till the smartphone came along and got its owners hooked on texting and emailing via an illuminated screen that drives everyone else nuts when it intrudes into the corner of their vision.