There really are other things you can do, like think, or talk with the people sitting around you or write or read a book or even play cards.
Well, wait now. You just said no carry-ons. So where do these books and cards come from? As you've described it, airplane activities would be limited to:
1) thumb-twiddling
2) uncomfortable sleep
3) masturbating in the restroom
You may not believe this but it is actually possible to go for eight hours without hearing music, watching tv or talking on the phone.
Most people won't want to, though. The measures you describe would spell the end of the airline travel industry.
Also:
quote:
and if you want to listen to the on plane music, it's cost five bucks to get the headset, 'cause your's most likely won't work unless you've got a hairband, gum, or rubber band).
I just flew to and from Las Vegas last week, on some new Airbus jets, and not only did Frontier provide the headset for free, I discovered that my regular headphones worked just fine in the jack. (And also, weren't crap like the free headphones.) Ever since 747's stopped using those stethoscope "headphones" (where the speaker was actually located in the armrest and the headphones were just rubber tubes), I've never run into an armrest headset jack that wasn't the standard 1/8" miniplug.