Today, at about 2:18 p.m., don't be surprised if your phone rings, vibrates or does whatever it does when some type of alert comes across the pike.
At that time, or somewhere near that time, 225 million electronic devices across the country--75 percent of those in use--will make noise when the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) conducts an emergency alert test.
The subject of the alert at that time--or thereabouts, what with all the devices that will be part of the test--will be "Presidential Alert," and the text will reportedly read, "This is a test of the National Wireless Emergency Alert System. No action is needed."
Today's test will be the first one done by FEMA of the national wireless emergency system. The alert is planned to go on for 30 minutes, to contact as many wireless devices--including smart watches--as possible, and a second alert will follow, this time on television and radio, and it is planned for 2:20 p.m.
FEMA has tested this alert on TV and radio for years, but it will be the first time that it is testing it on mobile devices.
Of course, since the times of the alert have been published, it allows people who don't want to hear the alert to turn off their phones or other devices for a few minutes if they simply don't want to hear and/or be interrupted by it.
But as long as the device is turned on, even if it is on mute, it will come on loud and clear.
This is a test of an alert that would only be used in a national emergency.
And again, this is simply a test, and with a test comes results, and FEMA will share those results with mobile carriers to ensure that if such a real emergency occurs, that the system works as it is supposed to work.
Wireless alerts have been in place since 2012, and are used to alert those with these devices about such things as impending weather concerns or missing children. Those with these devices can opt out of getting these alerts, but they cannot opt out of getting a presidential alert like the one being tested today.
However, a group of New Yorkers have reportedly filed suit, stating that like the other alerts, they want the right to opt out of these alerts too.
I really don't understand that at all. We have become a wireless society, and I don't find it to be an invasion of my privacy to get any of these alerts sent to my devices.
It keeps me up to date on what is going on, whether it is related to bad weather or missing kids.
It used no energy on my part to see the alert, absorb what it is telling me, and then, putting my device away.
But we are a society that sues at the drop of a hat, so I guess this situation unnerves some people, so they have to make it a court issue.
The first time I ever remember an alert being sent out of any kind is kind of fuzzy in my memory, but perhaps someone can back me up here: didn't we receive some sort of national alert when John F. Kennedy was assassinated back nearly 55 years ago in November 1963?
I could be wrong on that, but even though I was just six years old, I seem to remember that something might have gone out over TV and/or radio, but I am not sure of that.
What that horrid incident might have done is to force the Federal Communications Commission and other governmental agencies to look at doing something like this in case of local and national emergencies, and the assassination might have been the catapult to getting this done.
I certainly remember the tests of the alert system, with that warning sound, that we experience on TV and radio from time to time.
But in the modern age, TV and radio are old hat, and mobile devices are often the place we find out about news items first, so it is a natural for a national alert system to be in place.
Let's hope that everything works out with the alert just fine, because we do need such an alert--an alert that hopefully will never be needed or used.
Here is my own red alert: I have some personal business to attend to tomorrow, so the next time you will hear from me is on Friday.
Have a good day and a good Thursday, and I will speak to you then.
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