Popular Urban Myths
Experts have stated that urban legends are an essential part of popular culture because they provide intuitiveness into our fears and aversions. Urban legends exist to give us examples of life lessons, conspiracy theories but mostly because they are fun to tell. An urban legend is often a story told by mouth with different variations to entertain a particular crowd. It is almost always impossible to find the original source of the legend since it is passed around from one to another. There is almost always a moral lesson behind the legend told, even if the legend is false and fictional. Urban legends are rejoicing to prove true or false but not as important as the lesson provided following it. Popular urban legends like the bride that died
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The most congruous argument put forth on the topic of banning electronic devices on planes is the possibility of electromagnetic interference with aircraft systems. Hypothetically, active radio transmitters such as cell phones, laptops, iPads, etc. may interfere with aircraft, especially being true for older planes using sensitive instruments like galvanometer based displays (Arora 1). According to U.S. news and world report, “Boeing investigated several cases in the 1990s where aircraft crews reported that laptop computers or gaming devices caused autopilot disconnects, uncommanded airplane rolls or instrument display malfunctions. The aircraft manufacturer was never able to replicate the reported anomalies in lab tests.” (Hsu 1). This widely believed, by experts, to be the origin of this wild notion that cell phones and other electronic devices. Based on the idea that radio frequencies from cell phones interfere with the radio frequencies on aircraft instruments, it has been concluded, “that the radio frequencies that are assigned for aviation use are separate from commercial use”. In fact, the wiring and instruments for aircraft are shielded to protect them from interfering with the commercial wireless devices. (Arora 1). The concern that that wireless devices like cell phones and laptops emit active transmissions on the electromagnetic spectrum was solved by Federal Communications Commission (FCC), by diving the spectrum into different chunks for different uses, so a cell phone can’t interfere with the bands reserved for aircraft communications or GPS navigation systems (Hsu
The most congruous argument put forth on the topic of banning electronic devices on planes is the possibility of electromagnetic interference with aircraft systems. Hypothetically, active radio transmitters such as cell phones, laptops, iPads, etc. may interfere with aircraft, especially being true for older planes using sensitive instruments like galvanometer based displays (Arora 1). According to U.S. news and world report, “Boeing investigated several cases in the 1990s where aircraft crews reported that laptop computers or gaming devices caused autopilot disconnects, uncommanded airplane rolls or instrument display malfunctions. The aircraft manufacturer was never able to replicate the reported anomalies in lab tests.” (Hsu 1). This widely believed, by experts, to be the origin of this wild notion that cell phones and other electronic devices. Based on the idea that radio frequencies from cell phones interfere with the radio frequencies on aircraft instruments, it has been concluded, “that the radio frequencies that are assigned for aviation use are separate from commercial use”. In fact, the wiring and instruments for aircraft are shielded to protect them from interfering with the commercial wireless devices. (Arora 1). The concern that that wireless devices like cell phones and laptops emit active transmissions on the electromagnetic spectrum was solved by Federal Communications Commission (FCC), by diving the spectrum into different chunks for different uses, so a cell phone can’t interfere with the bands reserved for aircraft communications or GPS navigation systems (Hsu