I’ve turned my emergency alert off because I’m such a rebel!

[StupidFaces]

Urgh

Facebook … numerous posts over the last days consisting of:

“EMERGENCY ALERT SWITCHED OFF!!”

“Leaving my emergency alert on so I can reply and tell them to go and fuck themselves!”

“Remember everyone, emergency alerts can and should be switched off by tomorrow!”

“That’s my emergency alert turned off lol”

Why??? What’s so big and clever about turning the alert off? Don’t people realise that most countries have had this for years? Turning it off doesn’t make you Billy Big Bollocks and boasting about it just makes you look stupid!

YABU - I’ve turned mine off and I’m proud of it! Down with the establishment!

YANBU - people are ridiculous

We’re already so connected anyway you’ll find out a minute later from some other source. A government alarm isn’t necessary for the majority of people unless you have reason to believe it is then switch it on.
Our government don’t care about our well-being (look at the recent past) What makes people think this is any different, why don’t people use their initiative?

People are idiots. I understand they may not want to know if a nuclear bomb is headed this way but what if the alert is telling you not to leave the house because a gun man is running down the street for example? Why would they not want to get the alert?

I've turned it off because I'm going to a show this afternoon with my kids and don't want to cause a disruption/scare the shit out of the baby. I'll turn it back on afterwards for any real alerts in the future.

Not sure what others will do. I'm half dreading the baby's reaction and half curious to know what a theatre full of sirens is going to sound like!

It won’t be used for that, for obvious reasons.

@DiscoDragon , BBC interviewed guy from the fire service about the alerts and he said it could and would be used for localised things like wildfires and things. So I’m that case, it could well be very useful for people living very rurally. It’s not just for terrorism incidents and the like.

It is area specific. So if you’re on holiday somewhere you will get the alerts for that area.

We had them in the US. It wasn’t really a big deal. It’s like a text message with a weird noise.They were mostly about missing children (although apparently they aren’t going to use it for that here) or extreme weather. We did have tornado sirens too.

Apologies for my atrocious typos and syntax!!

Genuinely WTAF is a future climate lock down?

I get that “there’s a tornado take shelter” or “dam burst find higher ground”

but what do you mean by this?

But I don’t live on my phone. I could be gardening or watching a film or reading a book and not scrolling on social media. So I could be several hours away from it. Surely an alarm that there is a fire/flood/something is needed as I’d be dead if I waited to scroll on social media?

The air raid siren went off yesterday near me, I had to take six sedatives, a chamomile tea, tie a lavender bag to my face and go lie down in a darkened room for the next 12 hours 😂

People love drama 😁

Yesh that makes sense, the event is more important than whatever emergency is going on.

You do realize other people at the same even will get the same alert right? So you’re not really avoiding any disruption unless it’s a requirement if your even that emergency alerts are turned off.

Even people who do live on their phone might not have hyper-local connections. I might be chatting merrily on Discord about the forthcoming Bolivian elections or reading reviews of the new Marvel movie on the Guardian, oblivious to the fact that the tower block next door is in imminent danger of falling on me.

Or I might be very plugged in to my local WhatsApp/Next Door group and totally on top of the local events...except that I'm on holiday in Dartmoor this week where I have no local connections at all who'd tell me about the proverbial escaped axe murderer.

I have glass in my front door so I'll still be caught in a 'maelstrom of flying glass'!

I volunteer with RVS, it can’t be any louder than the siren blast my phone gives just because they’ve cancelled or rearranged a shift. I’ve tried changing it, turning the volume down, no , still an ear splitting siren.

Dont tell the 'rebels' but as well my own phone being on as usual I've also switched my work phone on too (usually switched off out of hours), to check that it also picks up the alert.

I've received these alerts in another country when they've been running drills and would be grateful of notice in the event of something kicking off for real. I also currently get flood alerts from the Environment Agency but you have to proactively sign-up for those and not everyone is aware of these so anything that gives more warning coverage can only be a good thing if the tide is heading toward your door.

If the government is planning to track me through these alerts as some of nuttier theories suggest, well I can only commiserate with the poor sod who gets to monitor my somewhat mundane comings and goings.

Existing flood emergency alerts are for people who live in the area. The new system alerts anyone who is actually physically in the area at the time.

I assume a climate lockdown would be an alert sent to the public letting them know a rainbow colour sub group of extinction rebellion is going to lock them down.

Turn it off if it bothers you. Why do people feel it necessary to announce it? Nobody cares.

I think anyone who can't interpret a message saying "risk of flying glass from blast, go to a room with no windows" to mean "or glass doors either" would probably be doomed, yes.

Please opt back in.

They are not just for people who smoke or have chip pans or children. They are to give you early warning of a fire to give you more TIME to escape your home, preferably by the normal means of stairs / doors.

If you put a heat detector in your kitchen ( not a smoke detector ) it won’t sound very often, usually only if you burn something badly.

Many fires in houses start due to electrical faults - I assume you use electricity.

Some house fires spread to or from adjacent buildings. You are putting other people’s lives at risk, unless you live in a detached house away from all other buildings.

Even if you do, you are risking the lives of firefighters who will break into your house to try to rescue you.

You are more likely to be killed by smoke than flames , so you may not have time to climb out your fire escape windows. You might die on your bed or sofa, overcome with smoke or fumes.

Please get some alarms . Three Linked smoke and heat detectors will costs about £120 and the batteries are non replaceable, they last about 10 years. Ask someone to install them for you So you don’t need to climb up any ladders.

what do you think is "batshit" about being warned of a meteorite strike?

To let people know if they may need to turn it off. Some people do care, I'm glad I heard about it. I don't have tv so found out from social media.

Do you have any neighbours? if you don’t you are probably more in tune with the climate than those that do.

It’s the UK, apart from a threat of War climate disasters are unlikely and are usually warned weeks in advance.

Luckily I've not got those sorts in my social media.

I can understand why some people have turned them off - if vulnerable, etc. Perfectly fine and good that there is official advise to show people how to turn them off if it could lead to issues for them.

And if others want to turn it off - do so. Your choice, why the need to to make a big deal over social media about it though? That's the bit I don't understand.

Lots of other countries have had the systems for years. I've received texts a whilst on holiday I n America , few years ago now. Was no big deal. Tap your phone and it's gone. No big deal but could be useful in some situations.

No idea what the fuss some people are making about it though, including several threads on MN since it was announced.

OMG I envy you more than you can imagine!

I can wake to the sound of a pin dropping.