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On Cell Phone Restriction

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Written by Michael J. Hurd, Ph.D.   
Sunday, 01 October 2000 00:00
Should the use of cell phones be restricted in public areas? Yes and no. There is no one-size-fits-all solution. Most public areas -- restaurants, movie theaters, concert halls, grocery stores -- are privately owned property. The matter should be left up to the owners of the property. How should the owners decide? The way most owners make such decisions: do what the majority of the customers want. A free marketplace, where private property rights are respected, allows for a diversity of opinions. Owners decide what's appropriate for their particular customers. Usually, they correctly guess what the majority of their customers want. When they're wrong, and profits start to suffer, they quickly make the necessary corrections. This is the beauty of capitalism. The profit motive provides for a means of communication between customers and owners. People vote with their dollars. It's easy, for example, to understand why a theater or concert hall owner would ban cell phones during performances. The overwhelming majority of people who attend movies and concerts place a higher value on hearing the show than being able to accept incoming calls. So, in most cases, it will make sense for the owner to forbid cell phones being turned on during a performance. The needs of diners in restaurants, on the other hand, will vary. In a noisy restaurant frequented by a lot of business people at lunch, allowing cell phones is a must. Otherwise, the restaurant owner will lose the business lunch crowd whose patronage keeps his restaurant open. In a quiet restaurant where people seek an elegant meal without distractions, the restaurant owner may insist on cell phones being turned off. Airlines already ban electronic equipment during takeoff and landing, because it can interfere with navigation. But the rest of the time, such equipment is permitted. Why? Because this is what most airline customers want: maximum safety, and maximum flexibility. Even within the same kind of business, some owners will prefer a live-and- let-live policy, while others will set stricter rules. It depends, ultimately, on what the customers want. Too often we seek a one-size-fits-all solution. Our politicians and media look for the one "right" law to impose on everybody. It's arrogant and presumptuous. Political edicts and government bureaucracy are no substitute for objective judgment based upon individual circumstances. So do we allow cell phones in public? Let owners and customers work this out for themselves, in the democracy of the marketplace.
 

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