Quote:
Originally Posted by HarryT
Whether or not they are there for a good reason, the "you must switch off electronics" rule IS there, and it's a part of the deal when you fly that you abide by these rules.
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Loathe as I am to disagree with Harry (since he's the editor of my favorite e-book version of Sherlock Holmes
)...
We have quite a spectrum of laws, rules, and regulations in the US. Some are of the variety of making it illegal to eat peanuts in church, while others are completely sensible.
Maybe I have an inherent dislike for authority, but I rather enjoy adding a bit of common sense into the mix. For example, if I'm at a red light at 3AM with unlimited visibility in all directions and there's no one coming (and the locals didn't have the sense to turn the light into a four-way red flasher between 12 and 5)...I'm probably going to stop, look all ways, then sail right through.
Similarly, if I'm going to enter into a sexual act with another consenting adult, the chances of my checking the local statutes to see what's legal in the jurisdiction is pretty low. In fact, given the aforementioned dislike of authority, if I knew of any such statutes, I'd probably go out of my way to violate them (the statutes, not...well, never mind).
My only point is I don't think it's inherent upon us to
automatically respect anything that someone managed to get passed as a law, or written down in a rule book. I've never thought that blind obedience was required to be a good citizen.
I have no idea about the potential RF interference of my various devices, so personally I'd turn my devices off...but now I'm wondering if there's a difference (from an RF interference perspective) between putting a device in "airplane" mode, putting it to sleep (low power usage...but what's it dreaming about?), or turning it off altogether...but I think I'm already off topic enough.