I feel old... It never occurred to me that not everyone in America knows what an Amber Alert is and where the name comes from.
this post was submitted on 15 Mar 2024
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It never dawned on me that it wasn't a thing elsewhere until I moved and stopped having my phone screech like a banshee on occasion.
Plus not everyone here is American. I'm so thankful that here in Germany these notifications only get used for catastrophic events (which is never) or the yeary test that got postponed 3 times in a row, lol.
What's the origin story?
It was named after a child that went missing and was later found murdered in 1996.
I don’t get amber alerts. They make my phone scream like the world is ending, and any interaction with device removes the message forever. So I can either stare calmly at the obnoxious noise box or stop the sound and never know what the issue was.
Yeah it's a terrible implementation. Shouldn't have software designed by politicians. "We need it to make a huge siren sound and makes sure people have to look at it before the siren will stop! Think of the children!"
I think an SMS message would be far more effective. If I get an Amber alert in the middle of the night, I'm not reading it, I'm just shutting it off as quickly so I can to get back to sleep. It's not like I'm going to be going out in the middle of the night to try to find a kid that went missing a hundred miles away. An SMS wouldn't wake me up, I'll actually read when I get up in the morning, and there's a chance I might be able to help because the information will still be there when I'm actually outside.
Had to look it up (my county doesn't have them), and two things seem weird to me:
- Why is it text only? Wouldn't adding a picture of the abducted child make it much more effective?
- Since it can take several hours for the alert to be issued, it doesn't really require any immediate action from the people who receive it - it makes no sense to use a special emergency protocol to distribute it.
I guess there's something to be said for everyone simultaneously getting an alert... if someone happens to be near the car they describe, get the alert and see the license plate, they'd call it in. So I guess there's circumstances where a hard alert where everyone has to simultaneously stop and look around could be beneficial. But yeah images could be useful, and most importantly something in your SMS history (which could have images) to refer back to seems like it would be way better.
I disabled these alerts permenantly on my android phone. Best 15 minutes I ever spent.
But now you can't receive useful alerts like "gry Toyt" (was a real alert that went out).
As Lord Maximus Farquaad magnanimously declared, "Some of you may die, but it is a sacrifice I am willing to make."
Abbreviation for "grey Toyota"?
Of course, but that's every other car on the road.. No license plate number makes this meaningless
Not even a location. Every amber alert I've gotten has been for towns I've never heard of.
Not always, had one last night that was from a town a mere 30 miles away. And due the the sparse population density here, that like an alert 2 blocks away in your big city. And it is possible I have taught one or two other children from that family in past years. Or I might not have. Hard to tell with the information available to me anymore.
I don't think you can opt out from a specific notification, but you can opt out. If you do you won't get any emergency broadcast notifications, at least that's how I think it works.
Not true for all devices. Samsung at least I can disable amber alerts while keeping emergency alerts on. Which I did after being woken up at 3am telling me to be on the lookout for a white SUV, as if I could see that from my bed.
Yeah iPhone as well can independently enable Amber, Emergency, and Public Safety Announcements.
I don't want to opt out, I just want "let us know if you see a grey Buick" to not use the same alert sound as "nuclear attack incoming".
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Pixel 8 Pro here I can specifically opt out by alert.