Originally Posted by
username
Everything is OK until when there is an incident when these flying objects kill or severely injure someone (read the news reports about the Amtrak crash around PHL). Or, a cabinful of huge handheld devices slow down evacuation and get people killed.
To me, it should not be about "how can I interpret the rule or fool the FA so it works for me". It should be more about doing the sensible thing in case there is a problem to not kill people.
Almost all cases of airplane accidents are catastrophic, so you'd never know if these flying objects were the actual cause of death. And people taking their carry-ons, blocked exits, and smoke likely contribute far more to slow evacuations than people taking tablets ever will.
Not to mention the ever-increasing numbers of low-mobility people who are allowed to fly. Almost all flights these days include several wheelchair-bound or extremely slow moving elders. An evacuation is going to be slowed far more by these people trying to exit than tablets ever will.
I'd postulate that if the worry is safety and "what if" in case of an incident, there are dozens of worry points that are higher priority than whether a particular piece of electronics is a tablet or a laptop.