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April 09, 2007
A Noble Lie
Let me just applaud the airline companies' for the noble lie that cellular phones will crash planes. A world in which every passenger on my six-hour, cross-country flight decides they're bored and this would be an excellent time to catch up with their awesome college roommate Dookie who's doing SO WELL and it's unbelievable that he has kids and does he remember that time when they...well, it's possible, under those circumstances, that I'd have to leap out the airlock. Worse, phone usage has a sort of epidemic quality to it, particularly in small, confined spaces. Since one nearby person on a phone means you can't sleep, may as well whip out the LG and call someone yourself. And since now the person behind you can't sleep, well they may as well see how Laura's doing. Etc, etc.
I am, however, totally stoked for airplane wi-fi.
April 9, 2007 | Permalink
Comments
I am, however, totally stoked for airplane wi-fi.
Which runs the risk of setting the stage for airplane Skype, which gets you stuck in the exact same situation you were attempting to avoid.
Posted by: Constantine | Apr 9, 2007 11:32:52 AM
It's definitely NOT a lie. It happens rarely, but interference cell phone/gps interference it's very real possibility.
Posted by: Carlos | Apr 9, 2007 11:36:53 AM
I see people using phones on planes all the time.
Posted by: Clark | Apr 9, 2007 11:37:57 AM
As your example would have it, phones on planes are like cigarettes in bars. It's nice to be able to have a smoke with your beer, but it rapidly becomes obtrusive when everybody feels free to do it, such that it's better to opt for a bar in which nobody can smoke.
Posted by: Seth D. | Apr 9, 2007 11:49:45 AM
Alright, but can we agree that banning iPods (or CD players, or GameBoys) on take off and landing is a fairly pointless lie (so long as you're using headphones, of course)?
Posted by: Serx | Apr 9, 2007 11:51:02 AM
One of the (many) reasons I think cell phones should be illegal is that they don't just encourage unforgiveably rude behavior--they seem to mandate it. The only way to prevent intolerable cell phone abuse on a commercial flight is to prevent any cell phone use on the flight. There is a lesson here for the wider world.
Posted by: Tom Hilton | Apr 9, 2007 12:00:56 PM
One of the (many) reasons I think cell phones should be illegal...
From my cold dead hand, Tom, my cold dead hand...
I swear, "I don't own a cell phone!" is becoming the "I don't even own a TV!" of the 21st century.
Posted by: Constantine | Apr 9, 2007 12:15:13 PM
This battle may have been won, but the war will be lost. At some point, connectivity will be so much part of what we all do (especially for those of us that fly much) that it will be unthinkable to be out of touch for that long.
The walls between internet, phones, tv etc... are slowly coming down as it is, and as Constantine mentions, if there's internet, that means you can make phone calls.
Banning cell phones isn't the answer, on planes or off them. I agree that otherwise polite people often seem to lose their sense of propriety where cell phones are concerned, but that's an educational issue. Cell phones are still new enough that there's no real consensus on proper etiquette. I think we could get a handle on this if we could get three things through people's heads -
1. Keep your voice down while you're talking (good advice for any kind of phone call).
2. If you're talking to someone face-to-face, it's ok to ignore a phone call, in fact, you should ignore it unless you think it's an emergency. That's what voice mail and call history are for.
3. Don't talk on the phone while doing other things that require any attention - driving, while in the checkout line etc...
Posted by: Chris Howard | Apr 9, 2007 12:30:43 PM
Air travel, particularly of the coast to coast variety, is already hellish. The idea of being stuck in a middle seat between two 250 pound men from DC to Seattle (which has happened to me in the last year) is bad enough. If the two of them were using the hand that had not already claimed the arm rest to talk on the cell phone I would have had to kill myself.
Posted by: Klein's Tiny Left Nut | Apr 9, 2007 12:38:56 PM
I agree that otherwise polite people often seem to lose their sense of propriety where cell phones are concerned, but that's an educational issue.
Do you really think education will help? Because from what I've observed, cell phones alter behavior (for the worse) in a much more powerful way than any educational program could possibly mitigate. It's more like addictive behavior than simple rudeness.
Posted by: Tom Hilton | Apr 9, 2007 12:48:35 PM
Here's a simple point: Public cell phone usage would be so much more bearable if there was a public campaign to inform people over the age of 30 that today's cellular phones have sensitive microphones, and its not necessary to yell into them as though they were a Vietnam-era field walkie-talkie.
Posted by: Mr. Monday | Apr 9, 2007 12:51:02 PM
it's simple -- people that want to use cell phones on planes are the same rude assholes who want to share all their pointless conversations with the world.
and i don't own a cell phone because i don't want to be like the rude bastards who think the world is entitled to their boring chit chat:
"whatcha dong"
"sitting on a plane."
"long flight?"
""eight hours. so we have time to talk. what are you doing?"
abort!
Posted by: christian | Apr 9, 2007 1:12:03 PM
Do you really think education will help?
I do. Because I think to date there really hasn't been any real movement in that direction. I think people's behavior towards cell phone use has been based on the way they treat landlines. When the phone in your house or your office rings, what do you do? Almost everyone drops everything and answers it. It's so ingrained in us that if we hear someone's phone ringing, and they don't make a move to answer it, we get uncomfortable and say 'Hey aren't you going to get that?'. That was ok when the phone didn't move, but now that the phone is with most of us all the time, we have to retrain ourselves.
The other part of the rudeness is the volume. Again, I think a lot of that goes back to pre-mobile behavior. In your house or office, you usually have a space where you can talk and you won't bother other people.
I'm sure that's not all of it, but I think it plays a big part. In any case, what's the alternative? An outright ban (if that's what you're advocating) isn't a realistic option, and most people wouldn't support one anyway.
Posted by: Chris Howard | Apr 9, 2007 1:20:04 PM
Chris,
I gotta disagree -- I have a cell phone, I use it pretty often, particularly on long drives or out of town, but I totally support a ban on cell phone use on airplanes. It would be absolutely unbearable to sit next to someone for any length of time having the kind of inane conversation that now seems to be a staple of grocery store lines with no means of escape.
Actually, one of the few benefits of air travel is that I get to turn my phone off.
Posted by: Klein's Tiny Left Nut | Apr 9, 2007 1:25:24 PM
About the wifi-therefore-Skype argument: isn't internet telephony governed by specific protocols that airplane servers could block? So HTTP requests could get throught but not VoIP ones? Not that I actually know anything about this...
Posted by: fluxirad | Apr 9, 2007 1:46:47 PM
I understand the somewhat unique nature of hurtling through the air with a few hundred strangers, but public agreement on a set etiquette has got to have some significant impact on how and when people use their phones.
And let's not forget that airlines aren't the only industry that bans cell phones. Theaters at the very least request that they be turned off, with some enforcing such bans.
Posted by: Ben | Apr 9, 2007 1:46:49 PM
I gotta disagree -- I have a cell phone, I use it pretty often, particularly on long drives or out of town, but I totally support a ban on cell phone use on airplanes.
I think that's true of most frequent travelers. But I think Tom advocates a ban on cell phones everywhere, not just on planes, and that was what I was mainly responding to.
I still believe that even the ban on planes will eventually go away, even if it's another 10 or 15 years. I would guess that a lot of frequent flyers who object to cell phone use would like to have internet access in-flight.
Posted by: Chris Howard | Apr 9, 2007 1:47:33 PM
sometimes, when cell phones are near computers or radios, there is a strange noise that is emitted that creates interference if my radio or television is on. i have heard the same thing happening in proximity to other phones also...not just my own.
...there is significant interference that occurs on phone calls in good coverage areas.
....i am not a scientist, but with many cell phones turned on, it seems to me that there could be interference of some kind that could affect the systems on a plane.
....i read the research studies and "good news" of studies in scandinavia, but i wonder if the use of cell phones and effects on people and other electronic systems is as benign as we all like to think.
Posted by: jacqueline | Apr 9, 2007 1:47:42 PM
i wonder if the use of cell phones and effects on people and other electronic systems is as benign as we all like to think.
I think about it like this-- Finland has only about 4-5 million people, and cell phone use among the Finnish has had a large market penetration from the very advent of the cell phone era. By 1998, cell phone use among the Finnish was more than 40% and now is more than 100% (as in, more than 1 cell phone line per person). If cell phones pose a health risk, then we should expect that almost all the people in Finland will be dead or dying from cell-phone-related cancer in about 20 years, since they've had the longest and most widespread exposure to cellular technology.
So if the Finns are fine, then we will be fine.
Posted by: Constantine | Apr 9, 2007 1:55:45 PM
So if the Finns are fine, then we will be fine.
Can't you libs stop worshiping Scandinavia for even one second?
Posted by: Stephen | Apr 9, 2007 2:11:18 PM
okay, stephen...
that part of the conversation is finnished now.
Posted by: jacqueline | Apr 9, 2007 2:19:34 PM
Are cell phone conversations really worse than other conversations on a plane? Should there be a no-talking-on-the-plane rule? Unless we want to talk, I mean?
Posted by: Sanpete | Apr 9, 2007 2:28:10 PM
Alright, but can we agree that banning iPods (or CD players, or GameBoys) on take off and landing is a fairly pointless lie (so long as you're using headphones, of course)?
Posted by: Serx | Apr 9, 2007 8:51:02 AM
These objects are banned for a few reasons. Take off and landing are the most risky parts of flight, and this is when an accident or crash is most likely to happen. If this is the case, your GameBoy becomes a high speed projectile which ends up puncturing my face.
Secondly, you are asked to remove headphones so that you are more receptive to directions in an emergency situation. People have enough trouble following directions so any additional concentration helps.
Posted by: Michael | Apr 9, 2007 2:29:51 PM
feeling a little insecure are we, Stephen?
Posted by: shams | Apr 9, 2007 2:38:44 PM
Michael - I've been on multiple Delta Shuttle flights where no one turns off their iPods. The world will not end.
Other thoughts:
- Maybe I am just rich girl about this, but please. Your life is not so rough that people on their phones on the plane will kill you. Get an aisle seat and refuse to sit in middles, that's what I say. Or move to First. Okay, that last bit is very rich girl.
- The world moves inexorably to help one group of people - high powered execs with Blackberries. We will have cell phone usage on planes shortly. Bank on it.
- The problem, it seems to me is with my Mother's generation, who, as someone mentioned above, treat their cell phones as if they are WWII era walkie talkies. Young people seem to know how to whisper, mostly, unless they are just oblivious. But the old people will die eventually. You can bank on that, too.
- Plus, I like to eavesdrop. Some of those loud conversations are just so embarrassing. Wrong time to decide to divorce, wrong time to yell at your boss... that sort of thing. Plus I'm less worried about "Nothing, I'm just on the plane": than I am about "Are you wearing panties?"
Anyway, I think it helps to see the humor in this. All this seriousness is a buzzkill.
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Posted by: weboy | Apr 9, 2007 2:53:56 PM
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