Skipness One Echo,
I don't need a report on interference. I've experienced it myself when in the flight deck for landing on a recent flight and I admit to being suprised myself at just how loud it was. I would invite you up to hear it for yourself but I think that may just land me in a whole heap of other trouble! That was just one mobile, imagine 100 odd going off at the same time. It would be impossible to prohibit mobile phones being allowed on board at all, as they are accepted as an essential tool of business and the majority of passengers carry them. If we insisted on them all being placed in the hold, even if the passenger were carrying no other hold baggage, can you just imagine the scene at the baggage reclaim conveyor belt? We have to, therefore, go on the assumption that we are all adults, have agreed to the terms and conditions of flight and can be trusted to follow the rules.
I do agree with you regards nail clippers and the such, especially as we carry glasses and bottles on board. However, like it or not, they are the rules that you have to follow if you want to go anywhere by air. With regards to cameras, I have to say, I have never asked someone not to use a camera, unless they are upsetting others around them. After all, we would never even have thought of a camera as an electrical item until the advent of the digital camera. I tend to think along the lines that, if you are looking around for things to photograph, then you are probably more aware of what's going on around you than someone who is playing an electric game. Unfortunately, when it comes down to it, the rules are not black and white all of the time. Is a camera considered an electrical device or not? I would say not, others would say it is. Not a lot of help, I know! Maybe it's time that the rules were reviewed and brought up to date.
Passengers that take the pxxs during safety demos are just out right idiots and shouldn't be allowed out of the house unaccompanied. I usually find that the suggestion that it would be really, really funny for them to carry on joking around back on the airbridge as they watch us take off usually works. And I don't make empty threats either!
Jsl