Have you also witnessed a devaluation of the standing ovation?

It’s a side-effect of the whole “everybody gets a trophy/everybody is special” movement.

Have noticed it; sometimes I stay seated and sometimes I am shamed into standing.

Yes, I have noticed. I also have noticed a lack of applause when a performer has been fantastic in the middle of an act. Some people applaud, but not many. Not that I want applause every 5 minutes, but when someone has been amazing, their voice or a dance number, I feel compelled to applaud them during the performance. The others who do the same, I am assuming the are experienced theatre goers, but maybe it is the opposite, maybe now you are not supposed to disturb the performance?

Have noticed it; sometimes I stay seated and sometimes I am shamed into conforming!

@janbb Or into herdimaling.

or penguining or lemming-like behavior…..

I have noticed it yes. I agree with @Blondesjon on the reasoning. I have no idea on how to tackle it. It’s a newer societal thing that won’t go away overnight.

Well I can concur. Not many have been quite so cool as Victor Borge in the last few years. He’s an example of someone that deserved one.

I’ve noticed it. I suspect that the root of the problem is that people want to give standing ovations (which were rare and special, even for the audience), even when they are unwarranted.

Why don’t I remember this time in which people only standing O’d things that were genuinely deserving? Seems like it’s always been the case that some crowds will just give it away. I notice it more in certain venues than others. And most of them consist more of a few people standing up, and then everyone else begrudgingly following, lest they be seen as unappreciative or uncultured. But it’s always been this way.

At the end of a performance you stand and stretch your legs while clapping – what’s the big deal?

Thank you all, for sharing your thoughts on this!