Cell Phones

Seen on the newswires:

[T]he House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee approved by voice vote a bill that would make the current Federal Aviation Administration and Federal Communication Commission ban on cell phone use during flight permanent.

The committee’s action comes as the European Union is moving to allow airline passengers to talk on their cell phones during flight. Some U.S. airlines are experimenting with in-flight Internet access. And some lawmakers worry that domestic airlines might try to get the cell phone ban lifted so they can charge passengers extra to sit in no-phone sections.

"I do believe this is important that we don’t make what is already a crowded and difficult environment for the traveling public and flight attendants" worse by allowing cell phone use in-flight, said Rep. Peter DeFazio, D-Ore., sponsor of the Halting Airplane Noise to Give Us Peace (HANG UP) Act.

Normally I’d make a little bit of noise and grumbling over over-regulating life, and the futility of legislating good manners.  However, with the FCC having made noises on lifting the ban of cell phone usage in the air, and with the ban having already been lifted in Europe…I’m not too terribly upset.

The potential for being stuck in the back of a sardine can on a long, transcontinental flight trying to ignore half of several cell phone conversations would almost be enough to get me to find a job which required less travel.

I hate it when others abuse their cell phones, by forgetting to silence the ringers in noise-sensitive environments, or by talking on them at inappropriate times.

So, I got a warm, fuzzy feeling when I encountered this story in the AJC:

Sloan, an Atlanta Municipal Court judge, held two men in contempt of court recently after their cellphones rang, just minutes apart, while court was in session at the downtown Atlanta courthouse. He put both men in the jury box and finished the cases on his docket before doling out identical sentences to the men: a $200 fine or 10 days in jail.

Ah, if only I could bill (and collect from) the folks who (for example) spoil movies by talking on their cell phones….

Judging by this article in the Independent, I smell another round of debate coming regarding cell phones and health:

A giant study, which surveyed more than 13,000 children, found that using the handsets just two or three times a day was enough to raise the risk of their babies developing hyperactivity and difficulties with conduct, emotions and relationships by the time they reached school age. And it adds that the likelihood is even greater if the children themselves used the phones before the age of seven.[...]

They found that mothers who did use the handsets were 54 per cent more likely to have children with behavioural problems and that the likelihood increased with the amount of potential exposure to the radiation. And when the children also later used the phones they were, overall, 80 per cent more likely to suffer from difficulties with behaviour. They were 25 per cent more at risk from emotional problems, 34 per cent more likely to suffer from difficulties relating to their peers, 35 per cent more likely to be hyperactive, and 49 per cent more prone to problems with conduct.

The scientists say that the results were “unexpected”, and that they knew of no biological mechanisms that could cause them. But when they tried to explain them by accounting for other possible causes – such as smoking during pregnancy, family psychiatric history or socio-economic status – they found that, far from disappearing, the association with mobile phone use got even stronger.

You know, we’ve had a bumper crop of baby bumps in my office this spring.  I’m reminded of just how many ladies in the office will chat on their cell phones while walking outside at lunch…or of the guys in the office whose young children will call them on the cell phone when picked up from day care….