Airplane Mode: Just Turn It On
As another school year begins and the summer break comes to an end, you reminisce about your travels, already missing the freedom…
You recall the flight that was your ticket to a long-awaited vacation, as well as the return that brought your happy journey to a close. You recall the odd scent of the plane, the struggle to get to your seat, and, of course, the ever-unintelligible voice of your pilot, reminding you to switch all your electronic devices to airplane mode.
They always claim it is for safety purposes, but many passengers onboard (perhaps including you) did not, and will never turn on airplane mode. Nonetheless, in this era of advanced plane safety, the flight encounters no issues and lands comfortably.
So, what exactly is the purpose of airplane mode?
When you turn on airplane mode, your device disables its cellular data and Wi-Fi capabilities. To understand the true reason we are asked to turn on airplane mode, we must first understand how our phones communicate using these two functions.
While sending a text message may be as simple as hitting ‘send’ for us, there is a lot more going on behind the scenes than what we can see (literally). First, the text message is translated into binary code which is transmitted to a cell tower in the form of electromagnetic waves, or more specifically, radio waves.
When the cell tower receives the signal, it simply sends it to the cell tower closest to the recipient of your message, which then forwards it to the recipient.
Now, picture your phone trying to connect to a cell tower while you are 35,000 feet in the air, moving at 800 kilometers an hour. Because of your altitude, you are incredibly far from any ground-based cell towers. However, this doesn't stop your phone from trying to connect to one. So, to overcome the distance, your phone sends out the strongest signals it can. Then, suddenly, because of your speed, your phone finds that it is much closer to a cell tower than anticipated. That powerful signal it sends then drowns out the signals of phones on the ground and overwhelms nearby cell towers.
Essentially, by not turning on airplane mode, you are jamming the signals of everyone on the ground and giving them a hard time when making calls, sending messages, or doing anything else that requires cellular communication and uses radio waves.
Furthermore, when your phone is emitting strong signals in an impossible effort to find a connection, it expends a considerable amount of battery power. By activating airplane mode, you prevent your device from constantly searching for a connection that it will not find, thus conserving your battery life.
And, contrary to popular belief, you are not really putting yourself and the rest of the people on your flight at risk by leaving airplane mode turned off. While it is true that airplanes use radio waves, their systems use much higher frequencies than our devices do, so it is unlikely that we will actually cause interference with the plane’s navigation or communication systems. If it truly were a concern, airlines would definitely be more strict about people turning on airplane mode.
While you may be tempted to leave airplane mode off now that you know it does not truly put you in danger, doing so leads to unnecessary inconvenience for yourself and others. A weak signal is just annoying, so do think about those who will have to experience this because of you. By activating airplane mode, you uphold both practicality and courtesy, ensuring a more enjoyable travel experience for everyone in the skies and a more stable signal for those on the ground.
Sources:
https://youtu.be/iKYHf22qVdM?si=OQQLl-IboQ9DdsIU
https://www.howtogeek.com/194421/what-does-airplane-mode-do-and-is-it-really-necessary/
https://theconversation.com/heres-the-real-reason-to-turn-on-aeroplane-mode-when-you-fly-188585
https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2022/01/5g-will-not-make-your-plane-fall-out-of-the-sky.html
https://www.pandasecurity.com/en/mediacenter/cell-phone-radiation/