Cell Phone Jamming: Illegal and Unethical?

[Jae Onasi]

But then again, if an area jams cell phones, then what the Heck is the on-call doctor doing there in the first place?

 

If you were, say, a volunteer search&rescue worker, would you spend your shifts spelunking in a deep cave when you knew people could suddenly need you at any moment?

 

Doctors actually do things besides read medical journals and stay at home on their days off.

 

For the cave thing--if someone's on call, they have to be in a position where they can get to the fire station/hospital/wherever within a specified period of time (varies by profession), and they are required to be accessible. Obviously if I were on call, I couldn't go caving because the cell wouldn't work and I probably couldn't get back out of the cave in a decent amount of time.

However, I could go to movies, theaters, church, etc. as long as it was close enough and my cell worked. I don't mind having it on silent and leaving the theater to go talk in the lobby.

If a lot of places jam cells/pagers, then those would be off-limits, and if I were on call, it wouldn't leave me a whole lot of fun things to do, especially in the middle of winter in the (US) Great White North.

 

For the emergency thing--unless there was some kind of universal location for a universal style emergency call button that everyone was familiar with, it wouldn't be too useful.

People won't know where to look when there's not an emergency, much less when there is one, and it's incredibly difficult for them to think clearly in serious situations. It took me several years to get used to working through the adrenaline wave that comes with an emergency. Fortunately, in my field we almost never have something life-threatening come up, so it's rarely an issue.

Most people are so stunned in an emergency that they usually just stand there looking at the scene. If I had to tell them to go look around the room for the emergency button, they probably wouldn't be able to find it simply because of shock. I'm not trying to be mean about that--if I didn't have the training, I'd have a tough time functioning, too, and it's just the reality. If the injury or illness is serious (say, heart attack), we'd be losing precious seconds looking around for that emergency switch and figuring out how it worked--break the glass? lift a cover? pull a switch? Simple things are hard to figure out in the middle of a serious situation, and I can't tell you how many times I've had to give instructions for really simple things to some really intelligent people who would have figured it out in moments any other time--like 'Turn off your car. Your engine is overheating. It may catch on fire. Turn it off and take the keys out of the ignition.' (No kidding--actually said that when I stopped at an accident one time. Only problem--the guys spoke only Spanish, and my Spanish is limited to Yes, No, Where is the Bathroom and 2 Margaritas, please. After some constructive sign language including shaking my keys, we achieved communication, which was good because the radiator fluid had poured completely out of their truck, and the engine was starting to smoke).

If you have some universal spot for a universal style emergency switch, then it might work. Since we don't have universal spots for fire extinguishers (at least in the US to my knowledge--they just have to be visible but not in any specific spot), I wouldn't hold out too much hope.

[Dagobahn Eagle]

On-call simply means the doctor is available if needed. Do you expect him/her to simply sit around and do nothing with their time other than wait to help?

This neighbour of mine has a search dog (don't know what they're called in English) and is part of a rescue organization charged with helping people taken by avalanches, lost in the mountains, etc.

 

He says he stays at home when he's on duty as he dares not be stuck in traffic somewhere or something when he gets a call.

[Jae Onasi]

^

I could see not venturing too far from home in a major city like Chicago/LA/NYC/etc, but I don't have the traffic worry by me. As long as I can put down whatever I'm doing at that moment and drive to the office, it's not an issue. Now, I wouldn't do something like pay a ton of money to go to something like a fancy restaurant or expensive play/opera/concert/etc., because Murphy's law, as soon as I spent that money, the phone would ring. However, if I need to pick up some milk and bread at the store or something equally simple, I'm not worried about leaving the house.

[El Sitherino]

This neighbour of mine has a search dog (don't know what they're called in English) and is part of a rescue organization charged with helping people taken by avalanches, lost in the mountains, etc.

 

He says he stays at home when he's on duty as he dares not be stuck in traffic somewhere or something when he gets a call.

I fail to see any real point in this. So your neighbor doesn't leave his house. So what?

 

I used to do a lot of volunteer work, as well as handle emergency situations. I expected to have to use my phone a lot, I did. Did I sit around? No, I lived my life, but I accepted that I need to be capable of getting where I need to be if something happens. Cell phone and proper planning helped make life not only enjoyable, but also made it so I could do all that was required without sacrificing a social life.

 

Asking someone to give up socializing is rather dangerous, especially if their job is to help others. Mental strain caused by this could render them completely useless. Because if they go crazy, how the hell are they going to help someone if all they can focus on are the crazed badgers they see on the walls?

 

 

 

It's all very simple, just let the doctor watch his/her movie until he/she gets paged to come in to perform a life saving operation.

 

 

 

To me, this is a foolish and petty debate. Wah, someone interupted your movie. Solve your problem yourself, legislation or action should not be taken simply because you find something annoying. I find people talking about NASCAR as though it were a serious sport to be annoying, doesn't mean I'm going to crusade that we have each and every hillbilly caged and muted to avoid such a thing.

[toms]

Wah, someone interupted your movie. Solve your problem yourself, legislation or action should not be taken simply because you find something annoying.

 

A lot of people have, they've stopped going to the cinema and started downloading films, or watching dvds at home.

[Kurgan]

I'm just saying the danger is if he or she's in a jammed area and doesn't KNOW IT, that could be dangerous. If he or she knows which areas are jammed and is on call, he or she can avoid those areas for fear of missing an important call (and hiding in a jammed area to avoid calls could be grounds for dismissal).

 

That's all I'm saying. If everyone starts randomly jamming and nobody knows, that could cause real problems, even if it would eliminate a lot of annoyance. I think schools confiscating people's cell phones arbitrarily is also unethical (even if they want to claim the constitution doesn't exist on school grounds).

[Mike Windu]

Drat, they lost the ability to tolerate.

 

Personally, I hate it when phones go off in movies, but other than that I don't really care.

 

And if it's in the movie, I tell the people to shut the **** up.

 

Case closed afterwards.

 

My philosophy is don't let it bother you, and it won't.

 

(If you're having a hard time doing this, go into your car, stick your keys into the ignition, leave the door open so the car beeps, and listen to your radio. Eventually you won't mind the beeping.)