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| We know best |
Ever since the smartphone became the norm for everyone, commercial airlines added another step to their long list of requests they ask us while flying their wonderful aircrafts. "Please set your seats in the upright position, fasten your seat belts, please refrain from smoking during the entire flight and make sure everything that has an on/off switch is turned off." Unless you flight Southwest, pretty much every airline gives us the same speech. The Federal Aviation Administration has been warning us about how harmful these devices are to airplane equipment; flaps, radio communication, food service, you name it.
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| Words with friends? |
Recently, the FAA announced that these electronic devices are actually safe for aircrafts. I for one feel relieved. This group of experts have done lots of research to make sure that they are in fact keeping us safe. But honestly, how many of us have had electronic equipment on during take off and landing? How many of those flights were compromised for this? I can't even count how many times I've fallen asleep with my iPod on only to wake up 3000 feet in the air to a perfectly functioning plane. I've also had the opportunity to talk to a few private airplane pilots about this issue, and the overall consensus I get is that these laws are in place with the sole purpose of us not being distracted while the flight attendants are explaining to us how to put on a seat belt and tell us about the emergency procedures.
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| "Yeah bro, it's called 'New iPad' not iPad 3" |
I feel relieved now that this government agency has finally allowed us to use equipment we use everyday, sometimes up until the minute we go to sleep. I can't help but think, what else? What else is forbidden to us by law that may actually be found to be perfectly ok in the future? I'm sure you all remember the days of the prohibition, when the government again told us that something was not safe for us, but later on they changed their mind and decided it was ok to have a drink. What bothers me is how compliant we are with all this bureaucracy. Nobody questions these agencies, nobody puts them in the stand, asks what their expertise, qualifications, motivations are behind every decision they make. Especially since most of these decisions turn out to be wrong. And these are only the ones they end up reversing. We don't even know what else could blow back in the future, having an agency spokesperson saying, "Hey, that thing we told you was bad for you, forget it, it's good ... oh and eggs, both the yellow and the white are good, it's all good bro, and add bacon". Are you going to keep letting government agencies tell you what you're allowed to do, you know, to keep you safe and all that?
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