To think there’s something a bit sinister about the Government Emergency Alert test on 7th September?

[ThisAmberSignal]

I know it’s being pitched as just a routine safety check, “nothing to worry about” but I can’t help but feel uneasy. Why now? Why the sudden push to roll this out and get everyone’s phones buzzing at the same time?
Is it really just a public safety measure or could there be something more going on here - surveillance, control, a soft rollout of something bigger?

AIBU to feel suspicious… or do others get the same vibe?

They've been doing it for years in the Netherlands. A recent test caught out all the children in DS' class who still had their phones in their bags instead of switched off and in their lockers. 😂

A lot of people quoting they get alerts from other places like the news, social media etc no problem with that. But will bbc news wake you up in the middle of the night to warn you there is a forest fire/gas leak/flood/crazed man on the loose and you need to wake up and do something now?

You're not (hopefully) continuously looking at your phone for alerts. These alerts are telling you something important immediately.

Anyway each to their own I guess. Mines is on so thats all im bothered about

Fair enough.

I'd like to know exactly who these people are (it is incredibly difficult to miss anything these with the pure abundance and accessibility of SM, but yes I'm sure there'll be a few)

everyone I know has switched them off, myself included

This op’s first post and it’s this. It’s clearly some kind of foreign interference designed to stoke panic and unease. I mean even the way it’s written. Ignore

Did it?

I'm going to enjoy it. Especially the looks on the faces of the kids with the second phones secreted about their persons. I'm not a complete monster, though - I'll warn the person who uses the office where the rest of the phones that are handed in are kept through the day.

Maybe not ...

https://uk.news.yahoo.com/french-hospitals-told-prepare-war-112724761.html

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.bbc.com/news/articles/cpqnlxr43zdo.amp

🤣 I'm sure of it!

You need to be busy. Too much time on your hands. 🤦🏻‍♀️

Are you in school on Sunday?

Emergency alerts have been in use in Canada for a number of years, generally for weather-related events and forest fires, but sometimes also for something crime-related. They can be targeted to small geographic areas if necessary. There's nothing sinister about them, and they have saved lives.

There's also been controversy when an emergency alert should have been issued, but wasn't, and lives were possibly lost as a result e.g the Nova Scotia mass shootings. That happened just a few months after the system was introduced in Nova Scotia and happened because various different agencies didn't know who was responsible for issuing one.

Yes it did. Some people didn"t get it so the system was being tweaked. I think it was certain networks.

'danger of falling trees avoid all unnecessary travel', 'rolling blackouts expected from 4pm charge devices in advance' 'active shooter in Cumbernauld town centre play stay inside'

OP we have a beacon near our house, in olden days they’d light them to pass on the warning.

This is today’s beacon.

Sorry, quoted wrong poster.

They did a test a couple of years ago, Easter Sunday rings a bell? We’ve had a genuine alert once last winter due to red alert weather where I live.

I must admit I do find the crime alert (as per PP says is used in Canada) quite intriguing. Does it work?

I wish people would pack it in with the snarky "get a grip" and "weird" comments and eye roll emojis on threads like this. If you are a person who struggles with anxiety or anxious thoughts, the current state of the world we live in is extremely difficult to bear and keep a healthy mind. It isn't easy to stay grounded. We just aren't meant to live like this, and people being dickheads is supremely unhelpful, not to mention unkind and unnecessary. Modern life is completely overwhelming and so fast paced for most people, and that's before you add all the scary headlines pushed at us every single day about civilisation-ending disasters and wars.

Try not to worry, OP. In my PP anxiety panic, I became extremely distressed about the last test a few years ago and was convinced it was a sign of something terrible on the horizon. It turned out to just be a test and nothing happened. There's no reason to believe that this time is any different. It's a system we have in place which requires maintenance and occasional testing. If you find it difficult to keep your thoughts from spiralling, consider turning off the setting on your phone. I have done this.

If you have a hidden phone, for example of you are getting everything in order to escape an abusive home situation.

Otherwise it’s because you are a member of the tinfoil hat brigade. Although none have ever been able to tell me what the government could surreptitiously and evilly do with an alarm system.

What (or who) is dumb?

I have a different opinion to others and have explained my position on it clearly.

Replying "dumb" to something isn't very well thought out?

Why are people turning off the alerts? Don’t you want to know if there’s a flood or something?

Yes, it was first tested in 2023 and we had thread after thread of idiots moaning about it then. It has been used in severe weather alerts as recently as January of this year.

The alert might be to tell you to evacuate your home because of flash flooding or something.

It's not unheard of, but I'm disappointed now.