A Jammer is Great for Acoustic Isolation
The jammer provides acoustic isolation in any area where cellular communications are a frequent nuisance either because of loud incoming call rings, or because of loud telephone conversations.
Examples of places where cell phones can be disruptive include:
- concert halls, playhouses, and movie theaters — during performances
- library reading rooms
- museums and other sites — especially during guided tours
- school classrooms, college lecture halls, and testing centers — especially during exams
- churches, synagogues, and mosques — during worship services
- recording studios, film studios, TV and radio stations — during recording or live broadcasts
Cellphone use has skyrocketed, making it hard to avoid hearing half a conversation in many public places. While the public benefits of jamming may seem clear in the examples listed above, increasingly, the buyers of low-cost cell-phone jamming devices are simply battling for control of the airspace within earshot, rather than dealing with a site-specific public nuisance about which there is broad consensus.
Buyers of these devices include owners of cafes and hair salons, hotels, public speakers, theater operators, bus drivers, and increasingly, commuters on public transportation. There is potential for abuse, ranging from youthful pranksters to targeted harassment and extortion.
Insensitive talkers impose their racket on the defenseless, while jammers punish not just the offender, but also more discreet chatterers. If anything characterizes the 21st century, it’s our inability to restrain ourselves for the benefit of other people. The cellphone talker thinks his rights supercede the comfort of the of people around him, and the jammer thinks his are the more important rights.
July 19th, 2008 at 3:11 am
Many cell phone users lack the courtesy to switch off their handsets in public places and places of worship. Mobile phones mess up social functions like weddings, films, worship, and lectures, by ringing loudly. Cell phone jammers eliminate these disturbances, and the consequent irritation shared by me and I think many others. Let’s shut down potentially offending mobile units wherever they constitute a nuisance. I think this is a compelling reason to support arguments in favor of using cell phone detectors and jammers.
July 24th, 2008 at 4:23 am
A while back I got on my commuter train and sat down next to a twenty-something woman who was blabbing away into her phone. She was using the word ‘like’ all the time. She sounded like a Valley Girl. It felt great to press a button and cut off that chatterer. She kept talking into her phone for about thirty seconds before she realized there was no one listening on the other end! Oh, holy moly! Deliverance.
My ‘device’ is the size of a cigarette pack, easy to hide. It cuts off all cellphone transmissions in a thirty-foot radius. Don’t you wish you had one?
August 3rd, 2008 at 6:24 am
I drive a school bus. The kids think they are sneaky by hiding low in the seats and using their phones. Now that I have a cellphone jammer the kids can’t figure out why their phones don’t work, but can’t ask because they will get in trouble! It’s fun to watch them try to get a signal.
August 10th, 2008 at 6:31 am
I’m a therapist in Ohio. Jamming is necessary to do my job effectively. I run group therapy sessions for sufferers of eating disorders. In one session, a woman’s confession was rudely interrupted. She was talking about sexual abuse. Someone’s cellphone went off and they carried on a conversation! There’s no etiquette. It’s a pandemic. Phone calls used to interrupt therapy all the time, despite a no-phones policy. About a year ago, I paid $200 for a jammer, which I placed surreptitiously on one side of the room. I tell patients that if they are expecting an emergency call, they should give out the front desk’s number. I have not told them about the jammer.