There’s more than one reason to silence your phone in concerts.
1. So it won’t distract others audience members. I’m mortified if I do something to negatively affect the concert experience of people around me. Aren’t you?
2. So it won’t distract you. Let yourself really be in the moment.
And maybe most importantly,
3. So it won’t undermine the performers. Today I gave my soloist his first pitch, and then a perfectly timed and imperfectly pitched ring tone swayed him to start a whole step higher. The singers adjusted and did a commendable job, but they didn’t give the performance they were capable of. It wasn’t the soloists fault, it was an unlucky outcome of a very loud ringtone.
Accidents happen, and we should certainly forgive and move on, but I can’t emphasize enough how often a ringtone has distracted an entire audience from a beautiful performance and potentially undermined the performers.