Bowing to pressure from travelers, the FAA has decided to “revisit” the de facto ban on the use of gadgets during take-off and landing. Depending on the outcome of this re-examination of the rules, the future may well allow us to remain glued to our screens for an extra fifteen minutes at each end of a flight. But is this really a future we should be welcoming?
While nothing will change in the immediate future, this “revisit” opens the door to end-to-end gadgetry: if the rules change we will be glued to our screens from the moment we first take our undersized and uncomfortable seats right until the time the pod bay doors are opened and we escape our flying sardine cans.
I think this is a step backwards, and that the pressure that the FAA is under is a sad reflection on modern life.
via ars techinica
March 25, 2012
