WEBVTT - Is your cell phone a killer? 0:00:00.320 --> 0:00:02.880 Brought to you by the reinvented two thousand twelve camera. 0:00:03.240 --> 0:00:08.960 It's ready. Are you get in touch with technology? With 0:00:09.119 --> 0:00:17.800 tech Stuff from how stuff works dot com. Bye there, everybody, 0:00:17.800 --> 0:00:20.000 and welcome to tech stuff. My name is Chris Poulette 0:00:20.000 --> 0:00:22.400 and I'm an editor at how stuff works dot com. 0:00:22.400 --> 0:00:25.640 Sitting next to me, as usual, is Jonathan Strickland, one 0:00:25.640 --> 0:00:30.480 of our senior writers. Hey there, Crispy. All right, then 0:00:31.360 --> 0:00:33.959 I wasn't expecting that. I know, That's why I threw 0:00:34.000 --> 0:00:36.559 the one out there. All right, So today we're going 0:00:36.600 --> 0:00:40.519 to talk about a subject that UM is. I don't 0:00:40.560 --> 0:00:42.520 know if I'd go so far as to say controversial, 0:00:42.560 --> 0:00:44.240 but I'll definitely go so far as to say there's 0:00:44.280 --> 0:00:48.320 conflicting information about it. We're gonna be talking about cell 0:00:48.360 --> 0:00:52.560 phones and environments in which you aren't supposed to use them. 0:00:52.600 --> 0:00:56.360 Oh that's a not like that. No, No, let's not 0:00:56.440 --> 0:01:01.440 go there, none of the cutting out stuff. Okay, So ready, 0:01:01.480 --> 0:01:05.039 I was like, oh now I've been derailed. People send 0:01:05.080 --> 0:01:09.440 your email directly to UM. So we're gonna talk about 0:01:09.680 --> 0:01:14.680 specifically two different environments in which you are at least 0:01:14.760 --> 0:01:17.200 sometimes told you are not supposed to use your cell phone. 0:01:17.800 --> 0:01:21.360 That would be hospitals and airplanes, but not not an 0:01:21.400 --> 0:01:26.600 airplane in a hospital or vice versa. You're not I'm 0:01:26.600 --> 0:01:31.760 not supposed to use it twice as much there? Uh anyway, alright, 0:01:31.800 --> 0:01:34.840 So why would anyone tell you that you should not 0:01:35.080 --> 0:01:38.480 use a cell phone in one of these environments? Do 0:01:38.480 --> 0:01:40.560 you want to take a stab at it? Chris? Yes? 0:01:40.640 --> 0:01:42.800 All right. You know what, we actually have a question 0:01:42.800 --> 0:01:46.600 of the Day on the site dedicated to this very 0:01:46.640 --> 0:01:50.720 topic or these very topics, and uh, in short, it's 0:01:50.800 --> 0:01:53.360 radio interference. Yes, there are a lot of communications that 0:01:53.400 --> 0:01:56.160 are going on any any given time in these environments 0:01:56.200 --> 0:02:00.400 and they are concerned that cell phone reception and could 0:02:00.440 --> 0:02:03.279 interfere with those communications. Right, So when you think about 0:02:03.560 --> 0:02:09.000 cell phones, they are radio frequency generators and receivers. I mean, 0:02:09.480 --> 0:02:12.480 that's that's how they that's how you communicate over a 0:02:12.480 --> 0:02:15.359 cell phone is through radio frequencies. So this really fits 0:02:15.440 --> 0:02:21.440 into a larger umbrella of electro magnetic interference, which encompasses 0:02:21.440 --> 0:02:23.840 everything from radio waves to just about everything else you 0:02:23.840 --> 0:02:26.679 can imagine that involves electrons. So anything like an integrated 0:02:26.680 --> 0:02:34.440 circuit can create electromagnetic interference. Um and depending upon how 0:02:34.480 --> 0:02:38.480 close you are to UH to sensitive equipment, how well 0:02:38.520 --> 0:02:42.720 that equipment is shielded, the uh, the kind of antenna 0:02:42.800 --> 0:02:46.240 that equipment has, how powerful your cell phone is. You 0:02:46.280 --> 0:02:50.800 may or may not actually affect anything UM to a 0:02:50.880 --> 0:02:54.600 degree that is actually noticeable, but the possibility is enough 0:02:54.600 --> 0:03:00.400 to make people scared. Sorry, no, go ahead. Yeah. By shielding, UM, 0:03:00.440 --> 0:03:03.440 what we mean here is a lot of electronics, actually 0:03:03.520 --> 0:03:07.080 virtually everything UM has some kind of shielding in it. 0:03:07.120 --> 0:03:10.800 If you've ever taken apart um an electronic device and 0:03:10.840 --> 0:03:14.000 seeing that thin metal uh section in there, and you've gone, 0:03:14.040 --> 0:03:16.480 what is this for? Doesn't it's flimsy, it doesn't have 0:03:16.520 --> 0:03:19.200 anything to do with anything. Well, it's it's shielding, And 0:03:19.240 --> 0:03:21.760 it's basically the kind of thing that should be in 0:03:21.760 --> 0:03:24.160 your speakers when you set next your cell phone next 0:03:24.160 --> 0:03:26.680 to it and make sure your speakers do that little 0:03:26.720 --> 0:03:31.840 clipping noise that Yeah, yeah, that's that's because your your 0:03:31.840 --> 0:03:36.880 speakers are have faulty shielding or lousy shielding, cheap cheap shielding, shielding. 0:03:36.920 --> 0:03:39.320 There's lots of different adjectives we can throw in there, 0:03:39.720 --> 0:03:43.400 but yeah, it means that the it's whenever your cell 0:03:43.400 --> 0:03:47.080 phone is connecting with a cell phone tower, UM, then 0:03:47.920 --> 0:03:51.160 the that signal is is actually getting picked up by 0:03:51.320 --> 0:03:57.160 the speaker. Uh. This can happen because of multiple reasons. 0:03:57.400 --> 0:04:00.160 There's the possibility that your phone is operating on a 0:04:00.240 --> 0:04:04.800 frequency that is very close to or identical to the 0:04:04.880 --> 0:04:08.800 frequency that the that the other devices using. Sometimes it 0:04:08.800 --> 0:04:12.080 doesn't even need to work work on a on a frequency, 0:04:12.120 --> 0:04:15.640 it's just the fact that the radio frequencies themselves are interfering. 0:04:16.320 --> 0:04:20.440 Or it can do this thing called intermodulation. Now, that's 0:04:20.440 --> 0:04:23.400 when you have one piece of equipment that relies upon 0:04:23.520 --> 0:04:28.159 radio frequencies to transmit data or receive data, and another 0:04:29.160 --> 0:04:33.560 gadget in this general vicinity that also uses radio frequencies, 0:04:33.600 --> 0:04:36.159 and they're using two different frequencies. So generally you would 0:04:36.200 --> 0:04:38.440 say that these wouldn't overlap, you know, if you have 0:04:38.480 --> 0:04:40.960 a lot of different gadgets, but they're all operating on 0:04:41.000 --> 0:04:44.919 different frequencies. Theoretically, they're not going to really interfere with 0:04:44.920 --> 0:04:48.400 each other. They're not they're not communicating on the same string, 0:04:48.560 --> 0:04:50.320 if you want to think of it that way. But 0:04:50.920 --> 0:04:57.280 sometimes frequencies can sort of intermingle a little bit. This intermodulation, 0:04:57.279 --> 0:05:01.480 you'll you'll get little spikes in the the transmission which 0:05:01.560 --> 0:05:04.720 if you're using something that's really sensitive, um, a very 0:05:04.760 --> 0:05:08.799 sensitive piece of equipment, that could translate into a faulty 0:05:08.880 --> 0:05:12.599 reading or a malfunction. Which that's where you start thinking, 0:05:12.640 --> 0:05:15.400 all right, now, this is a serious problem and basically 0:05:15.480 --> 0:05:19.640 just bleeds over into those harmonic side bands. Yes, exactly, 0:05:20.240 --> 0:05:22.840 you know it just it's it's sort of it's not 0:05:23.040 --> 0:05:25.480 nice and neat. It doesn't stay in its own lane. 0:05:25.520 --> 0:05:28.279 It's to swerve out into the other part of traffic. Yeah, 0:05:28.320 --> 0:05:32.159 anything that's harmonic, we're talking about a frequency that's sort 0:05:32.160 --> 0:05:35.600 of a multiplier of the main frequency you're talking about. 0:05:35.600 --> 0:05:38.800 So anything that's related to it on a on a 0:05:38.839 --> 0:05:41.400 different factor than then you're gonna have some issues with 0:05:41.480 --> 0:05:46.200 some harmonic interference. So what does this mean with the hospitals, Well, 0:05:47.080 --> 0:05:48.840 it means that if you were to have a cell 0:05:48.880 --> 0:05:51.599 phone and you were near a sensitive piece of equipment 0:05:52.000 --> 0:05:54.839 and your cell phone then tries to contact the cell tower, 0:05:55.360 --> 0:05:58.040 that interference could cause that equipment to give out, like 0:05:58.040 --> 0:06:00.440 I said, of faulty reading or even fail. And of 0:06:00.480 --> 0:06:02.520 course in the hospitals, there are a lot of pieces 0:06:02.520 --> 0:06:06.279 of equipment that are uh pretty pivotal to people's survival. 0:06:06.720 --> 0:06:09.560 So in general, a lot of hospitals will ban cell 0:06:09.600 --> 0:06:12.760 phones out right now. I should also add that cell 0:06:12.760 --> 0:06:16.120 phones have advanced quite a bit since they first hit 0:06:16.200 --> 0:06:19.760 the scene, and now they're so well tuned that usually 0:06:19.800 --> 0:06:24.080 the frequencies don't interfere as often. And also a lot 0:06:24.120 --> 0:06:29.840 of equipment has much better error correction uh software and 0:06:29.839 --> 0:06:34.640 and hardware, so they don't necessarily pick up rogue frequencies 0:06:34.720 --> 0:06:37.160 the way they used to, so they're not as big 0:06:37.200 --> 0:06:40.400 a threat as they used to be. Yeah, there's this 0:06:40.560 --> 0:06:43.760 myth about a four year old girl actually went out 0:06:43.760 --> 0:06:46.359 in a chain email a while back. Um, and I 0:06:46.360 --> 0:06:48.520 saw this on Snopes when I was doing research for 0:06:48.520 --> 0:06:51.320 this podcast. And apparently the myth goes that this sway 0:06:51.400 --> 0:06:54.880 old girl broke her leg and required surgery and everything 0:06:54.960 --> 0:06:58.400 was going fine until suddenly she flatlined and died. And 0:06:58.440 --> 0:07:01.000 when the doctor walked out, he found a woman in 0:07:01.000 --> 0:07:04.080 the hallway using her cell phone and he smashed it, 0:07:04.200 --> 0:07:07.360 and uh, you know, there was a brew ha ha 0:07:08.560 --> 0:07:11.720 between the pain, the doctor, and the person out in 0:07:11.720 --> 0:07:14.440 the hallway because the doctor had to tell the parents 0:07:14.480 --> 0:07:17.760 that his that their daughter had died because someone was 0:07:17.840 --> 0:07:20.920 using a cell phone in a hospital. Um. No, Yeah, 0:07:20.920 --> 0:07:23.560 I was about to say, I'm assuming there's no actual 0:07:23.760 --> 0:07:27.480 support or evidence of that being true. No. No, As 0:07:27.480 --> 0:07:29.600 a matter of fact, a snows found that there was nothing. 0:07:30.120 --> 0:07:32.720 Uh you know, there were no reports of anybody dying 0:07:32.760 --> 0:07:37.600 as the result of cell phone interference with medical equipment, although, um, 0:07:37.720 --> 0:07:41.760 there is there is some interference that can result from 0:07:41.960 --> 0:07:45.080 cell phones on different frequencies. Um. The Mayo Clinic did 0:07:45.080 --> 0:07:48.240 a study in in two thousand seven in which they said, basically, 0:07:48.880 --> 0:07:51.800 you don't need to worry about it, um, but there 0:07:51.800 --> 0:07:54.600 are there are some things that they did find, like um, 0:07:54.760 --> 0:07:59.200 anti theft technology. You know that you see the big 0:07:59.240 --> 0:08:01.560 pillars that you see next to the doors your local 0:08:01.560 --> 0:08:05.280 shopping mall that always stopped me from stealing you know, 0:08:05.320 --> 0:08:10.040 handfuls of CDs. Those exactly hate those those in the 0:08:10.040 --> 0:08:15.000 security cameras. Yeah, anyway, that that hand the technology has 0:08:15.040 --> 0:08:19.560 been known to interfere with people's pacemakers and defibrillators. Right. 0:08:20.000 --> 0:08:22.760 And here's here's just a tip just in case you 0:08:22.760 --> 0:08:27.640 are ever in the incredibly unlikely situation that someone collapses 0:08:27.680 --> 0:08:31.640 in between these pillars, The first thing you should do, 0:08:31.760 --> 0:08:34.200 assuming this person hasn't suffered some sort of back injury 0:08:34.360 --> 0:08:37.920 is move them out of the way, because prolonged exposure 0:08:38.040 --> 0:08:41.920 is really what's gonna cause irreparable damage. If you can 0:08:41.960 --> 0:08:45.199 get them away from the signal, sometimes they can actually recover. 0:08:45.320 --> 0:08:49.640 There's no actual permanent damage to the pacemaker or other equipment, 0:08:50.000 --> 0:08:52.600 and the person will be all right within a few minutes. 0:08:53.000 --> 0:08:56.360 So yeah, that's one of those few times where if 0:08:56.400 --> 0:09:00.880 someone does fall down it might be important to move them. Yeah, 0:09:01.240 --> 0:09:04.240 and it's uh, it doesn't um, well, I don't know, 0:09:04.400 --> 0:09:05.880 but it is the same kind of thing that you 0:09:05.920 --> 0:09:08.520 see when you see, uh at your convenience store, the 0:09:08.640 --> 0:09:10.680 sign in the microwave that say that says if you 0:09:10.800 --> 0:09:16.080 have a pacemaker, you know, microwave is also a radio frequency, right, 0:09:16.600 --> 0:09:20.160 electromagnetic frequency right. Right. So so this study that you 0:09:20.160 --> 0:09:22.200 were talking about, the Mayo Clinic study back in two 0:09:22.240 --> 0:09:25.320 thousand seven, they used two different kinds of cellular phones 0:09:25.360 --> 0:09:30.439 on on different carriers and they tested out with a 0:09:30.880 --> 0:09:34.360 hundred and ninety two different medical devices and found no 0:09:34.640 --> 0:09:38.840 significant interference whatsoever, and that everything seems to be fine. However, 0:09:39.000 --> 0:09:42.240 that very same year, two thousand seven, over at the 0:09:42.320 --> 0:09:46.000 University of Amsterdam, there was a study which came to 0:09:46.200 --> 0:09:49.360 very different conclusions. And in their tests, they tested cell 0:09:49.360 --> 0:09:52.959 phones near sixty one medical devices, uh that were not 0:09:53.160 --> 0:09:55.480 hooked up to patients. They thought that might be a 0:09:55.480 --> 0:09:59.360 bit unethical to test it on actual people. Perhaps perhaps, 0:09:59.760 --> 0:10:02.640 And out of the sixty one medical devices, they recorded 0:10:03.080 --> 0:10:08.079 forty eight incidents in twenty six devices. Uh, and they 0:10:08.080 --> 0:10:11.680 said a third of those incidents were hazardous. So it 0:10:12.200 --> 0:10:14.440 caused the machine to fail in such a way that 0:10:14.480 --> 0:10:17.400 it would have been harmful to the patient had that 0:10:17.480 --> 0:10:20.640 been hooked up to someone. So we have here two 0:10:20.760 --> 0:10:24.840 very different studies. Now they're different explanations for what could 0:10:24.840 --> 0:10:28.400 have gone on to get such different results from different studies. Uh. 0:10:28.480 --> 0:10:32.160 The first one I can think of is different equipment. Yeah, 0:10:32.200 --> 0:10:35.120 there's no real I don't have the details on what 0:10:35.200 --> 0:10:37.280 the equipment was that the Mayo Clinic was testing with 0:10:37.840 --> 0:10:39.960 or that the University events are Dam was testing with. 0:10:40.240 --> 0:10:43.319 Also the cell phones, as you were pointing out earlier, 0:10:43.360 --> 0:10:47.120 and I totally escaped my my attention. Cell phones in 0:10:47.160 --> 0:10:49.760 Europe operate on different frequencies and cell phones in the 0:10:49.840 --> 0:10:53.360 United States. Yeah, I mean this could be attributable to 0:10:53.760 --> 0:10:56.920 you know, the equipment and the medical equipment and cell 0:10:56.960 --> 0:10:59.680 phones in the United States versus medical equipment and cell 0:10:59.679 --> 0:11:04.040 phone overseas. So I mean it, it may just happen 0:11:04.120 --> 0:11:07.800 to uh be a convergence of technologies. So, as I 0:11:07.840 --> 0:11:10.320 was pointing out to Chris, the moral of the story is, 0:11:10.360 --> 0:11:12.200 if you have to go to the hospital, go to 0:11:12.240 --> 0:11:16.400 the United States. Don't get sick in Europe. I'm sure 0:11:16.440 --> 0:11:20.240 that's convenient for everyone. I hope so well, what with 0:11:20.280 --> 0:11:24.920 our wonderful healthcare industry here. So it seems like it's 0:11:24.960 --> 0:11:27.960 not it's not likely that it's going to cause a 0:11:28.000 --> 0:11:31.040 serious problem, but it's one of those situations where I 0:11:31.040 --> 0:11:33.960 think a lot of people would say better safe than sorry. Yeah, 0:11:33.960 --> 0:11:36.719 And there are no laws. The FCC doesn't have any 0:11:36.800 --> 0:11:40.720 laws pertaining to using cell phones inside hospitals. They leave 0:11:40.760 --> 0:11:43.760 that up to the individual hospital to decide. So some 0:11:43.840 --> 0:11:46.600 hospitals may have a ban on cell phone use, but 0:11:46.679 --> 0:11:50.920 that's just the policy of that particular hospital. Others may 0:11:50.960 --> 0:11:53.080 not have any policy at all. And you can walk 0:11:53.200 --> 0:11:54.720 up and down the halls talking on your cell phone 0:11:54.720 --> 0:11:57.040 as much as you like until you annoy someone enough 0:11:57.040 --> 0:11:59.800 for them to kick you out. But there's no there's 0:11:59.800 --> 0:12:02.600 no legal reason why you can't use a cell phone 0:12:02.600 --> 0:12:05.599 in a hospital, although you know, if you're talking to 0:12:05.640 --> 0:12:07.280 your doctor about what's wrong with you and you're on 0:12:07.320 --> 0:12:09.440 the phone at the same time, that could be Yeah, 0:12:09.480 --> 0:12:13.959 that's often, like I find that doctor's offices and being 0:12:14.000 --> 0:12:16.520 in line for fast food are two places you don't 0:12:16.520 --> 0:12:18.080 want to be on a cell phone because people just 0:12:18.200 --> 0:12:23.080 think it's so snooty. So well, that's hospitals. Did you 0:12:23.080 --> 0:12:26.320 have anything else add on that before we move on airplanes? Okay, 0:12:26.360 --> 0:12:29.840 so airplanes. Now, if you've ever been on an airplane 0:12:30.360 --> 0:12:32.880 in the United States, at least you have heard the 0:12:33.360 --> 0:12:36.840 spiel that includes all cell phones have to be turned 0:12:36.880 --> 0:12:41.200 off as soon as the the the door is closed. Um. Really, 0:12:41.240 --> 0:12:43.920 they definitely have to be turned off when you are 0:12:43.920 --> 0:12:47.920 taking off. That's that's the policy across every major airline 0:12:47.920 --> 0:12:50.679 in the United States. All right, then, well, how come 0:12:50.960 --> 0:12:53.760 Well it's for a very similar reason. We're talking about 0:12:54.400 --> 0:13:00.360 phones potentially interfering with very sensitive flight uh devices, so 0:13:00.440 --> 0:13:05.280 everything from navigation equipment to anything that involves operating the plane. 0:13:06.200 --> 0:13:09.199 The fear is that a cell phone could somehow affect 0:13:09.760 --> 0:13:12.760 these electronics in such a way as to give false 0:13:12.800 --> 0:13:16.960 readings or to cause something to malfunction. And therefore put 0:13:17.000 --> 0:13:20.480 everyone in jeopardy. And it seems not the game show 0:13:21.440 --> 0:13:24.160 just jumping ahead of you there, but everyone in danger. 0:13:24.360 --> 0:13:27.760 How about that? Uh, just so that you can chat 0:13:27.800 --> 0:13:31.520 with your buddy about the game last night. They think 0:13:31.559 --> 0:13:34.839 that's probably a little irresponsible. Yeah, if it interferes with 0:13:34.960 --> 0:13:37.440 landing gear, that would be like a wheel of misfortune. 0:13:38.679 --> 0:13:44.600 So nice, So we don't want to go down this path. 0:13:45.400 --> 0:13:48.520 Trust me. What we'll be doing game show references for 0:13:48.559 --> 0:13:50.559 the rest of the day. And I can. I am 0:13:50.640 --> 0:13:53.440 fully capable of doing that. People are more capable than I. 0:13:53.720 --> 0:13:55.920 So I have a question for sure, go ahead. So 0:13:55.920 --> 0:13:59.439 why don't they put really fancy shielding on airplanes? Well, 0:13:59.600 --> 0:14:01.959 surely somebody is is bound to forget that they have 0:14:02.040 --> 0:14:03.959 their phone turned on. There's a couple of things. First 0:14:04.000 --> 0:14:07.199 of all, the in general the airplanes do have very 0:14:07.200 --> 0:14:10.960 good shielding, not necessarily the equipment from each other, but 0:14:11.000 --> 0:14:16.120 the the cockpit from the passenger section is pretty well shielded. 0:14:16.679 --> 0:14:19.520 And uh, and there have been several tests. Again I've 0:14:19.520 --> 0:14:23.640 seen conflicting reports. Some tests say that really there's virtually 0:14:23.720 --> 0:14:27.560 no way a cell phone would affect um the the 0:14:27.600 --> 0:14:31.280 electronics of an airplane to any measurable degree. Others say, no, 0:14:31.400 --> 0:14:33.760 that's totally wrong. This person turned on his cell phone 0:14:33.800 --> 0:14:36.280 and it caused the compass to fail. Well that's a 0:14:36.280 --> 0:14:41.960 pretty big deal, right, Like, come on, you can look 0:14:41.960 --> 0:14:48.120 out the window. Um, so, well, the sun's over there, 0:14:48.200 --> 0:14:52.120 so we must be going south. Um No, but that 0:14:52.520 --> 0:14:54.960 so they are actually pretty well shielded. And when you 0:14:55.000 --> 0:14:56.920 think about it, they have to be. It's not just 0:14:57.040 --> 0:15:01.040 the fact that your your cell phone could potentially cause 0:15:01.160 --> 0:15:03.440 this plane to malfunction. I mean, if that were as 0:15:03.480 --> 0:15:06.360 sensitive as planes were, we would never get anyone off 0:15:06.400 --> 0:15:10.479 the ground because planes are constantly flying around being bombarded 0:15:10.480 --> 0:15:14.160 by different waves. I mean, radio frequencies are everywhere. You know, 0:15:14.240 --> 0:15:18.040 it's not just on the Uh. You don't turn your 0:15:18.040 --> 0:15:21.040 phone and then magically radio frequency suddenly appear. I mean 0:15:21.080 --> 0:15:23.000 some are being admitted by your phone, but there are 0:15:23.040 --> 0:15:25.840 others that are already in the environment. What's the same 0:15:25.880 --> 0:15:31.000 thing with um turning off your CD player's iPods. Those 0:15:31.000 --> 0:15:35.400 things are emitting interference and that's why they ask you 0:15:35.440 --> 0:15:38.280 to turn those things off until you're in the air 0:15:38.560 --> 0:15:40.640 at a certain altitude and they ask you to turn 0:15:40.680 --> 0:15:44.520 them off again. Another another reason for that, but beyond 0:15:44.600 --> 0:15:48.600 just the interference is simply practical in the sense that 0:15:48.880 --> 0:15:51.640 you don't want a lot of loose things in the 0:15:51.800 --> 0:15:54.520 in the cabin when you're taking off in landing, because 0:15:54.520 --> 0:15:57.200 that's that tends to be the roughest part of any 0:15:57.200 --> 0:16:00.600 flight unless you hit some really serious turbulence, and that 0:16:00.640 --> 0:16:04.120 means you just have loose projectiles bouncing around the cabin 0:16:04.400 --> 0:16:06.720 which could potentially bang into someone's head. And then you've 0:16:06.720 --> 0:16:09.040 got a lawsuit on your hands. And uh so that's 0:16:09.080 --> 0:16:12.400 another reason, you know, I mean, it's it's completely separate 0:16:12.400 --> 0:16:15.200 from the interference angle, although we also still do have 0:16:15.240 --> 0:16:18.920 this interference issue. Uh. But you have to ask yourself 0:16:18.960 --> 0:16:22.680 other questions, like, well, if cell phones are so deadly, 0:16:23.120 --> 0:16:26.440 why are there satellite phones on planes? I mean, you 0:16:26.440 --> 0:16:30.200 can use a satellite phone. Well, it's different radio frequency. 0:16:30.400 --> 0:16:34.320 So you could argue that, well, the cell phone range 0:16:34.320 --> 0:16:38.000 of frequencies maybe closer to the planes equipment. That's not 0:16:38.040 --> 0:16:41.520 really the case, by the way. Uh Another argument you 0:16:41.600 --> 0:16:43.960 might make if you are on the corporate side of things, 0:16:44.040 --> 0:16:46.640 is well, this way we can charge people to use 0:16:46.680 --> 0:16:50.920 the phone and we can monetize that um as opposed 0:16:50.920 --> 0:16:52.600 to if we let people just use their cell phones, 0:16:52.600 --> 0:16:55.240 they might be able to use it whenever there's there 0:16:55.320 --> 0:16:59.920 is one interesting thing I found on the the FCCS 0:17:00.040 --> 0:17:02.440 I specifically about this. Let's see if I can, if 0:17:02.480 --> 0:17:08.639 I can pull up the the specific wording here about 0:17:08.680 --> 0:17:11.359 about cell phones and why you shouldn't use them. Besides 0:17:11.400 --> 0:17:14.840 the fact that it affects, it could potentially affect the 0:17:15.040 --> 0:17:21.199 aircraft's UH systems. Here it goes. The primary concern is 0:17:21.240 --> 0:17:24.120 a cell phone used while airborne would have a much 0:17:24.160 --> 0:17:27.919 greater transmitting range than a land mobile unit. Their use 0:17:28.000 --> 0:17:31.800 could result in unwanted interference to transmissions at other cell 0:17:32.200 --> 0:17:35.360 UH other cell locations, since the system uses the same 0:17:35.359 --> 0:17:39.359 frequency several times within a market or given operating area. 0:17:39.680 --> 0:17:42.280 Since the cell phone is capable of operating on various 0:17:42.320 --> 0:17:46.520 cellular frequencies, unwanted interference may also affect cellular systems in 0:17:46.560 --> 0:17:49.960 adjacent markets or operating areas. So one of the reasons 0:17:50.000 --> 0:17:51.440 they don't want to use cell phones is because it 0:17:51.480 --> 0:17:53.679 can screw up the cell phone network down on the ground. 0:17:54.800 --> 0:17:58.320 You know that's that's a good because I saw some 0:17:58.920 --> 0:18:01.439 people basically saying that the reason you can't use your 0:18:01.440 --> 0:18:03.560 cell phone on a plane is just a web of 0:18:03.600 --> 0:18:08.960 conspiracy theories because the carriers don't want you messing with 0:18:09.280 --> 0:18:14.680 the communications at the tower level. The planes basically don't 0:18:14.720 --> 0:18:17.840 want to pay to have their equipment shielded more thoroughly 0:18:18.359 --> 0:18:20.040 because that would be really and I can imagine that 0:18:20.080 --> 0:18:24.919 would be really expensive. You're outfitting an entire fleet, sure, exactly. Um. 0:18:24.960 --> 0:18:27.560 And the government, which I think is really funny, Um, 0:18:27.600 --> 0:18:30.600 the government doesn't want you talking on the phone because 0:18:30.640 --> 0:18:34.280 basically they're afraid that people are gonna talk too loud 0:18:34.320 --> 0:18:36.000 and somebody else is gonna fly off the handle and 0:18:36.080 --> 0:18:39.880 try and beat their head in on a plane. Sultans, 0:18:39.920 --> 0:18:44.159 I can understand that. So that you know, the biggest 0:18:44.240 --> 0:18:47.680 argument I've seen from the average Joe or Jill, if 0:18:47.680 --> 0:18:50.960 you will, UM, seems to be, hey, no, let's leave 0:18:51.000 --> 0:18:54.159 these off, because I really don't want everybody around me 0:18:54.240 --> 0:18:56.320 on the phone. I'm on the plane. It's one of 0:18:56.320 --> 0:18:59.000 the last places that we have that nobody's talking on 0:18:59.040 --> 0:19:02.320 the phone. Yeah, and and for more evidence that the 0:19:02.359 --> 0:19:05.120 cell phone would not bring the plane down for one thing, 0:19:05.520 --> 0:19:07.920 I think it's safe to say that there's always gonna 0:19:07.920 --> 0:19:11.439 be at least one person who purposefully or not leaves 0:19:11.560 --> 0:19:14.320 his or her cell phone on during any given flight 0:19:16.359 --> 0:19:19.679 or just forget or just forgets I have. I have 0:19:19.840 --> 0:19:22.040 forgotten about my cell phone once I thought I had 0:19:22.080 --> 0:19:24.600 turned it off, and then when we landed, I was thinking, 0:19:24.720 --> 0:19:27.320 I'll turn my cell phone on and call it. Pull 0:19:27.359 --> 0:19:31.480 my cell phone out, and it's on, and I'm thinking wow. Oops. 0:19:31.800 --> 0:19:35.440 Because I'm I'm a goody two shoes. I follow the rules. 0:19:36.080 --> 0:19:39.240 I mean, even when the rules are not necessarily maybe 0:19:39.280 --> 0:19:42.320 they don't make sense, I tend to follow them anyway. 0:19:42.320 --> 0:19:44.320 I'm not one of those who questions authority and turns 0:19:44.359 --> 0:19:46.639 my cell phone on and says I'm gonna either crash 0:19:46.720 --> 0:19:49.400 or I'm gonna prove them wrong. And then that's I'd 0:19:49.480 --> 0:19:51.479 rather get to where I'm going and not get hit 0:19:51.520 --> 0:19:55.480 by fine or pepper spray. So because that could happen, 0:19:55.680 --> 0:19:58.840 it has happened. Well, not the pepper spray on a plane, 0:19:59.200 --> 0:20:04.320 but um grand uh fine. Yeah, one guy was hit 0:20:04.520 --> 0:20:06.720 with the twenty grand fine when he refused to get 0:20:06.720 --> 0:20:11.199 off the the phone in midflight. Um he said it 0:20:11.240 --> 0:20:13.159 was a life or death situation. I believe, as I 0:20:13.160 --> 0:20:17.399 recall it was his father had passed away and so 0:20:17.480 --> 0:20:20.000 he or was passing away in the process. Of dying, 0:20:20.359 --> 0:20:24.000 and he had to arrange make final arrangements with the 0:20:24.040 --> 0:20:26.520 hospital and he felt that it could not wait. So 0:20:26.880 --> 0:20:28.920 you know what had happened was he apparently had left 0:20:28.920 --> 0:20:31.560 his phone on, received a phone call, found out it 0:20:31.600 --> 0:20:34.240 was the hospital, and then called the hospital a couple 0:20:34.280 --> 0:20:37.160 more times, and despite the fact that flight attendants told 0:20:37.240 --> 0:20:42.280 him to stop calling, he continued until they essentially restrained 0:20:42.359 --> 0:20:47.720 him and slapped him with a fine. I think, yikes, yeah, 0:20:47.800 --> 0:20:51.840 that's a bad day right there, my friend. But cell phones, 0:20:51.880 --> 0:20:54.560 I mean, we've got wireless on lots of flights. Now, yeah, 0:20:54.600 --> 0:20:58.480 we've got WiFi. So so again, it's clear that obviously 0:20:58.520 --> 0:21:01.280 these radio frequencies aren't bringing planes down left and right. 0:21:01.320 --> 0:21:03.520 People are finding ways to monetize it, and suddenly it's 0:21:03.520 --> 0:21:06.239 okay to use it. I'm not going to get all 0:21:06.280 --> 0:21:10.520 cynical there. But and the European Union actually is UH 0:21:10.680 --> 0:21:13.159 has some flights that allow you to use cell phones. 0:21:13.280 --> 0:21:17.400 They have different arrangements depending on what plane you're on, 0:21:17.600 --> 0:21:20.919 like what airline you're on. UH. Some have very special 0:21:20.920 --> 0:21:22.800 plans that you have to opt into before you can 0:21:22.840 --> 0:21:25.040 use your cell phone on them, and if you have 0:21:25.280 --> 0:21:27.639 decided even though they're in the European Union have decided 0:21:27.720 --> 0:21:30.840 not to allow cell phones because the customers, as you 0:21:30.840 --> 0:21:32.840 were pointing out, said they don't want it. You don't 0:21:32.880 --> 0:21:34.959 want to sit next to a chatty catty Cathy all 0:21:34.960 --> 0:21:40.320 the way from Berlin to l A. Yeah, call, that 0:21:40.320 --> 0:21:43.280 would be a very long call. Um. I know some 0:21:43.320 --> 0:21:47.800 teenagers who could do it, though, So I wonder now 0:21:47.800 --> 0:21:50.159 the WiFi is allowed on flights. This is another one 0:21:50.160 --> 0:21:52.680 who's extemporaneous. I just thought of it sort of questions. 0:21:52.920 --> 0:21:56.160 I wonder if Skype would work a lot of airlines 0:21:56.280 --> 0:22:01.080 specifically block Skype. Really, yes, they specifically firewall the heck 0:22:01.080 --> 0:22:03.159 out of Skype because they don't want voice over Internet 0:22:03.200 --> 0:22:07.800 Protocol calls going out. Um. Again, part of it is money. 0:22:08.320 --> 0:22:10.679 You're looking at at a you know, if the plane 0:22:10.760 --> 0:22:13.240 has the satellite phones where they charge you to use them, 0:22:13.240 --> 0:22:15.320 you know, you slide your credit card in and suddenly 0:22:15.359 --> 0:22:17.680 you can make a phone call. Uh. It makes way 0:22:17.680 --> 0:22:19.800 more sense to force you into using that than to 0:22:19.960 --> 0:22:23.200 allow you to use some other method. And also they 0:22:23.240 --> 0:22:26.760 do want to discourage people from just you know, becoming 0:22:26.840 --> 0:22:31.280 even more compartmentalized and thinking that they are the center 0:22:31.320 --> 0:22:33.920 of the universe and chatting as loudly as they need 0:22:33.960 --> 0:22:35.719 to in order to you know. That's the other thing 0:22:35.760 --> 0:22:39.800 is that airplanes are allowed, and humans tend to increase 0:22:39.840 --> 0:22:43.680 the volumes of their voices, uh in loud environments because 0:22:43.680 --> 0:22:45.920 they figured the person on the other end can't hear 0:22:45.960 --> 0:22:47.960 them very well, right, I mean, it's just a natural thing. 0:22:48.040 --> 0:22:52.480 It gets louder you start speaking more loudly. Yeah, of course, nice. 0:22:52.520 --> 0:22:55.439 I think we probably just hit the top level on 0:22:55.520 --> 0:22:59.080 that one, so Liz will be pulling that down later. Sorry, Liz, 0:23:00.000 --> 0:23:03.640 that wasn't the hay there or anything. And uh, but yeah, 0:23:03.760 --> 0:23:05.880 I mean, you you tend to do that sort of thing, 0:23:05.960 --> 0:23:08.399