I mean… finally lets us read classic works of literature. Because that’s what I always read. Pssht, duh.
Since the dark, dark times known as the ’90s (I’m kidding—there were Koosh balls, it was a glorious decade) jet-setters and casual fliers alike have been prohibited by the FAA from using their cell phones during take-off and landing. As the decades roll on that ban expanded to other bits of technological wizardry like e-readers and tablets. In the middle of an interesting passage you were reading at the gate? Want to listen to music to block the screams of infant fliers? About to level up your Pokémon on your DS? The FAA, like the honey badger, don’t care.
Except now the FAA has seen the light—the light in this case being the long-known fact that cell phone usage doesn’t actually cause planes to drop out of the sky like inebriated birds—and removed the ban. According to Wired the FAA will still “[require] airlines to prove that electronic devices are safe to use on their planes from gate to gate, and the agency expects all carriers to get the thumbs-up from the Feds by the end of the year.” The FAA also recommends that you should still leave your phone on airplane mode, because you’re probably not going to get a signal way up there anyway.
Cell phones, e-book readers, handheld gaming systems, and tablets can now be used at any old time during a flight; larger things like laptops will still have to be stowed “because of their potential to become silicon-filled projectiles if there’s an emergency.” That’s OK. I have my tunes. I have my literature. I have Seven Little Words. I’m good.
(via Geekologie, top picture by Derrick Coetzee)
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