Airline passengers are using their tablets and other personal electronic devices more and more as their in-flight entertainment, according to USA Today.
A study that was released Wednesday found that on U.S. domestic flights, the use of electronic devices rose 24.3 percent this year over last year, even though they are banned from use during takeoff and landing.
This was the fourth consecutive year the use of the electronic devices increased. At the points of observation during flights, this year 35.3 percent of passengers were using their devices, compared to 17.6 percent in 2010.
The most significant increase was observed in the use of tablets and e-readers, which rose from 8.4 percent in 2012 to 10.7 percent in 2013. More than one in nine passengers was using one of these devices at any given point, reflecting the increasing popularity of the devices across demographics, as well as tech-friendly improvements by the airlines.
"Electronic devices help travelers tune out the mass of humanity that surrounds them," Joe Schwieterman, the director of the Chaddick Institute, told USA Today.
The ban on the use of electronic devices is more disruptive than ever, due to the increased dependence on them by passengers, according to the study. They project more than 105 million hours of disrupted technological activity for 2013, resulting from the FAA ban.
"The FAA ban has far greater consequences today than it did when we began our research three years ago," Marisa Schulz, a researcher and assistant director of the Chaddick Institute, said. "Business travelers especially feel the pain of the FAA ban.
"Work gets cut short when electronic devices must be turned off," she added.
The FAA has a group working to decide if the ban is necessary and if electronic devices actually do pose a safety risk. Travelers are divided on whether the ban should be lifted, however.
"Until we have a true consensus among the electrical engineers and aviation experts on the relatively absolute safety of such use during the critical stages of flight, I would rather err on the side of caution and leave the ban in place," Ben Griffith, an attorney from Cleveland, said.
The study was conducted by the Chaddick Institute for Metropolitan Development at DePaul University. Researchers observed 1,688 passengers on 23 flights operated by six airlines when at cruising altitude. The points of observation were randomly selected.
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