What happens if you don’t put your phone in airplane mode?

At this very moment, imperceptible signals are traversing the atmosphere all around you. These signals exist beyond the visible spectrum of light that your eyes can detect. Enormous radio waves, wider than houses, are carrying information between various devices such as computers, GPS systems, and cell phones. If, hypothetically, you possessed the ability to see radio waves, your phone's signal would be visible from Jupiter due to its strength. However, this visibility is obstructed by the abundance of interference caused by routers, satellites, and individuals who neglect to activate airplane mode on their phones during flights.

The purpose of airplane mode is not solely to ensure the safety of your flight but also to safeguard the communication networks for everyone on board. When you use your cell phone, it emits electromagnetic waves, specifically radio waves, which occupy a specific portion of the electromagnetic spectrum. Visualize these radio waves as different colors representing various wavelengths, and your unique eyes would perceive them as such. When you make a call, your phone generates a radio wave signal and transmits it to the nearest cell tower. If you are far from a tower, your phone will consume more battery power to transmit a stronger signal in an attempt to establish a connection. Once connected, this signal is relayed between cell towers until it reaches the intended recipient of your call. Since multiple calls are occurring simultaneously, each phone is assigned its own wavelength or color by the cell towers, ensuring that you don't intercept other people's calls. This assigned wavelength is even slightly different from the one used to receive information on your phone to avoid interference.

However, there is a limited number of colors (wavelengths) available, and with the proliferation of Wi-Fi and increased demand for these wavelengths, the challenge of avoiding interference has become more formidable. This challenge intensifies during regional emergencies when a surge of people attempt to use their phones simultaneously. Some sources of interference, such as phones searching for signals from high altitudes on planes, can be prevented but are often overlooked. Phones on aircraft, being far from ground-based cell towers, exert extra effort to transmit strong signals in pursuit of service. Paradoxically, due to the rapid movement of planes, these phones may find themselves closer to a cell tower than expected, inundating it with a powerful signal that overpowers signals from the ground. Thus, when you neglect to use airplane mode during a flight, you inadvertently disrupt nearby signals, akin to a military radio jammer.

Even when we are on the ground, most of our electronic devices emit unintended radio waves, which can slow down our internet connections and result in choppy calls. This situation compels consumers to pay for additional bandwidth and prompts service providers to acquire more radio spectrum, potentially leading to the deployment of additional satellites, perpetuating a cycle that could obscure the night sky with satellites in the future.

Furthermore, this system poses a threat to our relationship with the universe itself. Radio telescopes used in astronomy rely on specific wavelengths to observe deep space. However, while these wavelengths are theoretically protected, enforcement of these regulations is often lax. For instance, the Very Large Array telescope can detect signals across a range of 1 to 50 GHz throughout our solar system. However, if it attempts to observe signals below 5 GHz, it may be overwhelmed by the multitude of signals from 5G networks. As a result, there is virtually no place on Earth that is completely devoid of radio interference. Satellites that relay signals worldwide have covered the planet in a blanket of radio waves. Nevertheless, there are a few locations with less crowded skies where radio telescopes can peer deeply into space, allowing us to study phenomena such as the black hole at the center of the Milky Way and uncover the secrets of galaxies billions of light-years away, provided that they are not obscured by signals from phones in first-class cabins.