Something posted by a relative on Facebook started a conversation about Amber Alerts on mobile devices. That got me to wondering how many people actually pay them any heed and how many do otherwise, so...

Question:
Amber Alerts on your mobile devices: Do you...

Choices:
Pay close attention and watch for the subject of the Alert
Dismiss them without further thought
Disable the feature on your device(s)
My mobile device(s) don't have the feature
I like ponies

Question:
I'm...

Choices:
LE, Fire/EMS, Search & Rescue, other emergency services--volunteer or otherwise, past or present
Just a plain old run-of-the-mill citizen
You're better off not knowing

 

I used to pay close attention. Then there were emergency alerts for everything in Washington. It would wake you up and terrify you in the middle of the night. Second or third time that happened, off they went.

Well you didn't allow for those of us who like ponies and read the alerts....

I glance at them, if they are in my area I keep my eyes open. Got one for Baltimore yesterday. WTF I'm at hour and twenty minutes from there? If they did it to a 15 mile radius of the closest tower to the abduction then it'd probably be more effective.

My biggest rant about them is I carry two different phones, with different carriers. After getting crap scared out of me and clearing first phone, second one goes off thirty seconds later and startles me again. Especially when I'm listening to something on my phone through speakers on vehicles, Amber Aleerts at 70 decibels suck.

Depends on how close to home they are. I don't see how they hurt to know. I don't live in an area where I get a lot of false alerts.

Mine is set to extreme alerts only. They got a little crazy with posting Amber alerts from places all over the place. Plus, unless they park in my driveway i'm not going to see anyone.

I turned the alerts on my phone off.

Similarly annoyed with them - as well as emergency alerts, usually for weather events - on my TV.

I read them and if I’m out and about, will try to keep my eyes open.

Houston Metropolitan Area is over 5 million people, and larger than the state of Rhode Island and Connecticut. In other words, the alerts are way too broad to pay attention to so I turned them off.

Never pay them any attention. I don't/can't look at my phone when I'm driving. Once I'm home I won't see them from my living room anyway. And my phone is so old I can't turn them off either.

I do look at where the alert is for, and if it's somewhat nearby (which it usually isn't) and I'm going to be awake and on the road reasonably soon, I keep it in mind.

If I'm going back to sleep after it jarred me out of bed, or the vehicle is thought to be nowhere nearby, or if I'm staying put someplace (home, work, etc) I ignore the alert because in any of those situations, I'll not be in a position to observe the suspect vehicle anyway.

I don't mind ponies, they're kinda like giant toddlers, but once you get past the dang things being able to hurt themselves even after you've taken every safety precaution possible, they're OK.

The last amber alert I received said to check my local news for details. After that they were disabled.

I didn’t vote because there was no applicable answer. I look when I get them, but they tend to be pretty far away.

If the alert were more localized, I’d keep an eye out. But, there’s not much point when the alert is for an incident 100 miles away.

My hearing aids connect wirelessly to my iPhone. After having an alert go off full blast into my hearing aids once, the alerts have been disabled ever since.

I’ve disabled the mobile alerts.

If I see a LED sign with one while I’m out I take note of the details and I keep an eye out. But I don’t need an alarm going off on my phone at random hours.

If I could set it to a text alert without sound I would. I have no idea why that’s not an option.

quote:

Originally posted by Skins2881:
Well you didn't allow for those of us who like ponies and read the alerts....

I glance at them, if they are in my area I keep my eyes open...

This is basically me. If it's in my area and I am out and about, I pay attention but most of the ones I get are for things miles from me, sometimes as far away as Tampa or Melbourne. If I'm at home, I don't pay much attention, either. My house is 1,000' from the road. I'm not going to see much.

I turned that Amber Alert shit off on day one of owning a smartphone and it’s never been turned back on.

Its a distance thing for me. I get alerts from below the bridge and from Wisconsin. Which is pointless.
Related: I get annoying EWS messages on my TV too.
From Wisconsin.

I’ve never seen one that didn’t appear to be a domestic dispute.

since its hands free driving laws mostly out here, if my phone has an alert, its breaking the law for me to read it...so the car with the kidnapped 8 year old girl just went by me and I can't do anything about it

They have large digital display boards over the highway in a few spots, but whats the chances of successfully reading a license plate from 100 feet away at 75 mph? Slim to none.