As a frequent traveler I have always been asked to completely shut off my phone and hand held electronics during the duration of a flight. This was regulation that airlines were always very adamant about making passengers do despite the “airplane mode” feature that was integrated into many of our devices. However after flying to Houston this past weekend I noticed that this policy is no longer in place. As aircraft passengers, we are now able to keep all light wight electronic devices powered on as long as it is in airplane mode. I always wondered why we were directed to power off our devices in the previous years. After research the FAA determined that having the cell phone device powered on is actually not harmful. You can read about it more here.