The FCC announced Wednesday that it would lift its restriction on cell phone useage in planes. As you can imagine, this has caused a flurry of stories on radio and TV promising, “It’s coming reaaaal soooon nooow, you’ll be able to use your cell phone on an air plane!”
Pardon me? I don’t want people to be able to use their cell phone on a plane. That’s just rude to everyone who has to suffer through one half of their conversation.
I feel qualified to make this statement because I was once a cell phone junkie too. There was a time - in the not so distant past - where I was never without my cell phone. I didn’t hesitate to hand out those seven little numbers to anyone who showed the slightest interest in the ability to get in touch with me at any time.
I carried my cell phone everywhere and I always had it near. I had home chargers, office chargers, travel chargers, car chargers and spare batteries. There was no chance I would not have a full battery and be able to make or take any call that was beamed, over the aether, to my phone.
Oh, I tried to be polite and not use my phone where it would have gotten me killed. Movie theaters, libraries and job interviews were right out! Almost anywhere else though was fair game.
I lived like this for about 4 years. Making and taking calls, being a “mover and shaker” and being universally available. There was a period of time in the late nineties where I didn’t bother to have a home phone. I was far ahead of the “no-phone-but-a-cell-phone” trend that’s so popular now. The only difficulty at the time was ordering a pizza from Pizza Hut, but since their pizza is terrible I actually came out ahead - no more Pizza Hut brand pizza!
Over time I slowly noticed something; some of the people I knew who were die-hard cell-phone junkies like me were being a little less faithful to their phones. Each week they would have their cell phone around them less and less. I wouldn’t be able to catch them running out the door to a meeting; I wouldn’t be able to catch them on their way to dinner with the family. They were slowly “de-phoning” their life.
And you know what? It really didn’t cramp my ability to talk to them. They would call me back or I would catch them at the office and we would have our conversations. They were getting by just fine without a cell phone all the time, and I was getting by just fine without them having their cell phone all the time.
At first I was mad, “How dare they not be reachable twenty-four hours a day?” I would cry. But then I had to face the reality that while they may have been available twenty-four hours a day, I couldn’t recall any times I had needed to contact anyone at 3 a.m. - only the possibility existed.
So I slowly began to evaluate my own cell phone habits; were they healthy? I was definitely fitting in with what society called a “normal” cell-phone user, but is being “normal” compared to society as a whole a good thing?
Very gradually I started to be a little less available by cell phone. It was painfull at first, I had seperation anxiety. I would think, “What would happen if an emergency blew up and I wasn’t available to deal with it?” I had to come to the painful realization that the planet and civilization had managed to get along without my help for a looooong time, and they would probably be okay without me at the helm for a Sunday afternoon.
So I began to leave my phone behind. I would go to the movies without it instead of having it on “silent” mode right next to me. I would go to dinner without it. Slowly, I started making it through whole weekend days without my phone clipped to my belt.
I had broken myself of a bad habit, and I had turned the corner. I realized that things kept running pretty smoothly without me. There were a few times I missed a quasi-important call, but nothing worth worrying about which is what I would have done in the past.
I felt liberated, I felt free! The cell phone was no longer a burden and I was no longer its master. Last year I switched to a new provider and took a new number (against my will). At first I was annoyed because I would have to update everyone to give them my new number. But then I started really thinking about who needed my number in the first place. I was able to cut down who had my number, and only hand it out to a select few people.
By doing that, I reduced my call volume which actually allowed me to carry my phone even less!
I’m not completely free of the cell phone. I still carry it during the week while I’m at work. I carry it if I’ll be out late so my wife can reach me. It’s still in my life, but not in control anymore. If I forget to charge it I don’t worry so much. If I miss someone’s call I know they’ll call back if it’s important.
So the FCC may lift their ban on cell phone usage in the friendly skies but we need to pray that the FAA doesn’t lift their restriction. Ahh, what’s that? The FAA? Yep, there are actually two bans on cell phone usage in the air. The FCC’s ban was to ensure that ground interference was minimized and the FAA’s ban was to ensure that the radios in the cell phones wouldn’t cause a problem with the air plane’s electronics. The media isn’t making a big deal about the FAA angle.
Fortunately for us all the FAA’s commissioned study results aren’t due until 2006. So we should have at least another year of peace and quiet in the great blue yonder.
