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Amusement Park Bans PDAs and Smartphones
Ant writes in with news that an amusement park in the UK is trying out a ban on smartphones and PDAs, with the intent to enable families actually to have fun together. The press release says that from May 25 to June 1, adults found using a PDA will be asked to drop it off at a "PDA Drop Off Zone" — no word on what happens if they refuse. But both the Sun and BoingBoing, which picked up their brief story, strike a more ominous note with the claim that "special wardens" will confiscate the devices. If the experiment is deemed a success the park may make the ban permanent.
...but stepping up and taking away someone's personal property is nothing but thuggery.
http://www.rootstrikers.org/
I require my phone, not just to stay in touch with my friends and loved ones, but also to keep in touch with my business. It's fine if I'm in a theatre for a few hours (I usually put it on vibrate), but if I have to be without it for a day... screw that, I'm not going to your place.
The parent with the PDA/Smartphone just won't go at all.
This is a triumph. I'm making a note here... HUGE SUCCESS.
Who are they going to call? The parents without the cell phones?
Physics is nothing like religion. If it was, we'd have an easier time trying to raise money!
If you want news from today, you have to come back tomorrow.
Isn't it usually more the problem with having kinds leave their gameboys and nintendo ds's in the cars, rather than adults spending time on their smartphones?
It's all fun & games until someone loses the game.
I understand the sentiment, but if a parent is such a jackass to not be able to ignore their phone for a single day to go have fun with their kid, there is no way the park is going to be able to "force" them to b a good parent by stealing their phone.
I've tried telling the office to only call me for emergencies when I'm on vacation. That didn't work. Now they know that I'll check my messages at night, and if they haven't fixed the problem, I'll remote in and fix it when I get a minute.
Vacation means vacation. The fact that they're not willing to hire someone else who can take some of the load off of me, doesn't mean that I'm going to give up my vacation time (says the puppy, posting from work on Sunday on a holiday weekend).
ad logicam Claiming a proposition is false because it was presented as the conclusion of a fallacious argument.
They aren't going to "enforce" it. It's just a way to remind dad that maybe, just maybe, he should be spending time with the kids rather than being glued to his PDA.
Just imagine all the fun! You can't take any pictures or videos, you can't text or ring when you lose sight of each other, therefore you'll have to stick with the group even when your auntie visits the loo for the tenth time before lunch.. but the highlight must be when your best mate dies of an overdose because you have no way of reaching 999 (the UK equivalent of 911/112).
Fun fun fun!
Alton Towers gets free publicity in the papers, a debate ensues, no-one actually gets their PDAs removed. Nothing to see here, move along please.
I think this is a great idea!
A corresponding story:
I think I am the only one in my family who actually hates sitting down for dinner because either 1. no one ever sits down for dinner at the same time, or more importantly and more relevant 2. everyone turns to watch whatever is on the TV at the moment, even if their back is to the TV they'll take a bite and turn around to watch while continuing to chew their food. (And before anyone tries to cry foul and point out the obvious, yes, I have mentioned my extreme distaste for their actions more than once, but they don't listen)
I am usually the aloof and solitude type, but I would love to sit down to dinner and have a full conversation with my whole family and be interested in what is happening with everyone else's lives and have others be even slightly interested in what I'm doing (since I'm off at college except for about three or four weeks out of the year). That never happens though. They'd all rather be watching Who Wants To Be A Millionaire or Dancing With The Stars or Desperate Housewives (yes I'm a guy living in a house with too many women).
You wonder why families seem to be so much more dysfunctional and broken nowadays? Well it's no illusion. Families are more discontent and broken nowadays because society is falling to the pits and worrying more about possessions, money, and kissing their bosses' ass than worrying about their families, loved ones, and the things that truly matter the most in life.
This also goes along with those people who take "vacations" yet take their smartphones with them and never really disconnect from the office and their work while they're supposed to be relaxing and enjoying time off from work. I never want my cell phone to do anything other than make phone calls. Like this phone: http://dvice.com/archives/2008/04/claritylife_pho.php Hell, I'd be happier without a cell phone.
I am disgusted with society today, but major props to these people for trying to do something right by the world and society.
Well, I can think of a few people who would actually enforce a policy that stupid, but...
First question: Are they confiscating all cell phones, or only smartphones?
If it's only smartphones, it's a liveable policy -- provided you can buy everyone a non-smartphone. It's still moronic that they're trying to enforce fun -- it's not like it spoils anyone else's fun if you want to spoil your trip by playing Solitaire on your smartphone the whole time.
If it's all phones, well, you've just eliminated a useful tool for finding lost kids, or for preventing kids from getting lost. It's all well and good to say "We'll meet here at 5:30," but it's nice to be able to call if they don't make it.
Don't thank God, thank a doctor!
The word "ban" isn't really what they're doing.
"Amusement Park Provides Secure Drop-Off Point for PDAs and Smartphones" would be more like it. To advertise this service they have a kid dressed as a policeman "banning" people from using PDAs and pointing them towards the drop-off point.
My friends and I go to Alton Towers all the time (We have season tickets), the staff there are generally very helpful and friendly, so I doubt they're going to change that policy just to make families feel a bit better, there's a good chance it's more of a tongue-in-cheek sort of thing to help Dad relax on his day off rather than to cause real distress.
I highly doubt they're going to kick up a fuss or cause an argument for the sake of it, they'll more than likely go to the kids and be all "hey kids, tell daddy to put the phone away! I'll even take it off his hands and put it in a safe place, how about that?!". As cheesy as it sounds, it might ACTUALLY work.
+1 IDisagreeSoHeMustBeATrollOrAnAstroturferOrAShill
Heh... I still remember first weekend in the previous town I've lived in. So it was a beautiful day of may, with sunshine, flowers and all. And I had to go through a park. Well, maybe not "have", but it was a bit of a detour to go via the other side. Anyway, so the birds were chirping, the sun was high, the breeze was warm, and you could see couples of teenagers everywhere.
;)
But the couple that stuck to my mind were a boy and a girl having a picnic on a blanket on the grass. Well, when I say 'picnic', it was more like the girl was sitting there idle watching other couples go by, while the boy was typing furiously on his laptop.
Not sure if it would have been better with a policy to take his laptop, though. I had a feeling it would have been akin to taking the oxygen tank away from a scuba diver
A polar bear is a cartesian bear after a coordinate transform.
You don't. I think you're missing the point of the ban.
IMHO this ban is protection from asshole bosses who think they own you 24/7/365. When you go to one of these places you can say "I took my kids to such and such, they don't allow cell phones inside."
Clearly this doesn't work for anyone who has a job that requires 24/7 availability (for example, you need to be notified if your data center catches fire.) However, if your job is one where your availability ISN'T needed 24/7, but your asshole boss THINKS it is, then this works.
Never underestimate the power of stupid people in large groups.
I think they will allow phone calls, just not the tapping away that you see when people are checking up on their emails from the office. And on another note, this preview feature takes a long time.
They did, but it was a lot harder and entailed walking around searching or going to a courtesy booth and having an announcement made over a PA.
On a recent trip to Disneyland with relatives, cellphones were used a couple times to check in and coordinate. Very handy if you ask me.
Personally, any park that says I can't have my phone won't get my business.
Assuming they are even doing this for the reason they claim, I understand what they're doing, but I think it's completely retarded and will probably backfire - and here's why:
The type of person who is going to be using their smartphone/PDA at an amusement park generally isn't going to be doing so because they think it's more fun than hanging out with their family or going on rides, they're going to be doing it in most cases because they have to be able to have those communication options to even be able to get away. If the person's family doesn't have a problem with it, then why should the park?
What about people who want to have their smartphone AS A PHONE?
This is just so stupid and I think that it will cost them business. For any person who would find this appealing, there are going to more than twice as many who will hate it.
Christ, wouldja take a minute to think even briefly before typing. What are you on about, saying, "it's not like it spoils anyone else's fun if you want to spoil your trip by playing Solitaire on your smartphone the whole time"? This policy is not aimed at 19-year-old geeks who've turned up by themselves, it's aimed at parents. And yes it really will spoil your 10-year-old's day if you're playing Solitaire instead of joining them on the rides.
I read about 100 comments in this post and I have to admit most were about "I wouldn't go there then" or "They are taking away our rights".
Correct me if I'm wrong since I'm in the US... but where in the UK law does it say "Right to bear cell phone"... it doesn't you twits.
This is a terrific idea made by a PRIVATE entity on THEIR property. I cannot tell you how often I hear loud obnoxious people on cell phones distracting from MY fun. How the families they are with are like "Come on dad" or "Honey can't you do that later" and they reply "Just one sec" while being blissfully ignorant of the line behind them.
I WOULD go to this theme park simply because it removes the ADD enhancing objects in our lives and lets us focus on conversation with each other and paying attention to ones surroundings.
My experience with PDAs at amusement parks is that they make the amusement park more fun.
Waiting in line for rides/attractions is a pain in the ass. Yes, I suppose you get to chat with whomever you're with, but geez...It's nice to pull out a PDA with SlingPlayer on it and watch some TV, or surf the web, or whatever.
Perhaps they should allow PDAs when in line, but not on benches...But that seems too arbitrary. I really just think that there are enough legitimate uses for PDAs to enhance the experience at an amusement park (which is meant for amusement, right? not boredom, standing in line?) to warrant a ban on such devices.
Don't thank God, thank a doctor!
Why is it that the proponents of "one nation under God" are so eager to get rid of "liberty and justice for all"?
"Special wardens will confiscate such devices" as a possible outcome.
How will those who are doctors, law enforcement officials and such who are on call or other emergency personnel be able to remain in touch with their call-in stations then and who are required to carry such devices (and may even be issued them as part of their standard equipment)?
And isn't that called "theft?" Or, at least violation of personal property under UK law?
While I appreciate the idea of not having to be interrupted at every turn by some idiot either playing a video game or answering a mindless "WHASSUP?!" call in the middle of a show, there should be some better way to do this.
And what happens when someone loses their claim ticket or, worse, the park loses their smart device? The cost to the park will be far in excess of the "social savings" this ban might give them.
From this side of the pond, it's just another sign that every petty administrator, everywhere, wants to control a little slice of the lives that come into their sphere of influence.
They are going to have a LOT of very angry people to contend with when they try this because, more and more, smart devices are becoming the norm, rather than the exception. What a wonderful way to turn the happiest place on earth into a focus for seething animosity!
Well done, park officious officials!
It doesn't matter if they think that you are stupid or not, cutting your tie in half is criminal damage ... I am surprised that someone has not called the cops out on them.
...oh wait, it's the UK: only criminals have guns.
It's not uncommon for a boss to be unable to grant a request for time off if the employee will be unreachable. It's also not uncommon for the EMPLOYEE to be unwilling to take time off if they will be unreachable.
Given such a situation, this attempt to encourage family togetherness could just result in LESS family togetherness.