![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Do I think our kids deserve to grow up in a safe environment? Of course. Would I phone 911 to object to an AMBER alert? Of course not. But I do think our AMBER alert system is seriously flawed.
Canadians already pay some of the highest cell phone rates in the world. I was a reluctant convert to the cellular revolution and I still don't own a "smart" phone. But somewhere in the mid-1990s, with a daughter in her teens and parents who were both dealing with significant health issues, I decided that I wanted to be reachable in the event of an emergency. I still avoid giving out my cell number to anyone other than friends or family. Most of the time, the phone is turned off. But in any case, the phone is a service that I pay for, that is there for my convenience, and ought not to be used by people I don't want to hear from. Isn't that the whole point of Phonebusters and "Do not call" lists?
But enough about me and my problems. The important question to ask here is: Does the AMBER alert system serve the purpose for which it is intended? In my opinion, no.
Most people receiving these alerts can do nothing about the missing child or children, even if they want to. And supposing they are indeed out on the road somewhere in the vicinity of where the child was last seen. Distracted driving is already such a huge problem since the advent of smartphones. We have signs on the roadway that read "Leave the phone alone!" since a lot of collisions are caused by people talking and even TEXTING while driving! Even if they have a hands-free setup, getting bombarded with AMBER Alerts will at best lead to anxiety, stress and feelings of helplessness on the part of drivers.
The second major problem is the "boy who cried wolf" effect. Too many of these alerts and we cease to believe them. Does anyone remember the e-mail or user-group posting from the little boy who supposedly had some serious illness and wanted to get as many well-wishers as possible sending him messages, cards and letters of encouragement? From what I can gather, he did eventually get better but the cards, letters and other messages still kept pouring in for years to come! Or those messages with photos of kids who had supposedly gone missing, urging you to please forward this to EVERYONE you know - I'd rather get this message 100 times than not get it at all and if it were MY child, I'd want the message spread as far and wide as possible?? And not so very long ago in Hawaii, when they were testing their emergency system, they sent out code red messages insisting that THIS IS NOT A DRILL. Except that it was, and it had been sent out by mistake!
I wonder how long it will take before scammers start capitalizing on AMBER Alerts by claiming that they have the child that's gone missing and that by paying a ransom of a few thousand or million dollars, the seriously frazzled parent can get the child back?
Or maybe that's already happened?
Canadians already pay some of the highest cell phone rates in the world. I was a reluctant convert to the cellular revolution and I still don't own a "smart" phone. But somewhere in the mid-1990s, with a daughter in her teens and parents who were both dealing with significant health issues, I decided that I wanted to be reachable in the event of an emergency. I still avoid giving out my cell number to anyone other than friends or family. Most of the time, the phone is turned off. But in any case, the phone is a service that I pay for, that is there for my convenience, and ought not to be used by people I don't want to hear from. Isn't that the whole point of Phonebusters and "Do not call" lists?
But enough about me and my problems. The important question to ask here is: Does the AMBER alert system serve the purpose for which it is intended? In my opinion, no.
Most people receiving these alerts can do nothing about the missing child or children, even if they want to. And supposing they are indeed out on the road somewhere in the vicinity of where the child was last seen. Distracted driving is already such a huge problem since the advent of smartphones. We have signs on the roadway that read "Leave the phone alone!" since a lot of collisions are caused by people talking and even TEXTING while driving! Even if they have a hands-free setup, getting bombarded with AMBER Alerts will at best lead to anxiety, stress and feelings of helplessness on the part of drivers.
The second major problem is the "boy who cried wolf" effect. Too many of these alerts and we cease to believe them. Does anyone remember the e-mail or user-group posting from the little boy who supposedly had some serious illness and wanted to get as many well-wishers as possible sending him messages, cards and letters of encouragement? From what I can gather, he did eventually get better but the cards, letters and other messages still kept pouring in for years to come! Or those messages with photos of kids who had supposedly gone missing, urging you to please forward this to EVERYONE you know - I'd rather get this message 100 times than not get it at all and if it were MY child, I'd want the message spread as far and wide as possible?? And not so very long ago in Hawaii, when they were testing their emergency system, they sent out code red messages insisting that THIS IS NOT A DRILL. Except that it was, and it had been sent out by mistake!
I wonder how long it will take before scammers start capitalizing on AMBER Alerts by claiming that they have the child that's gone missing and that by paying a ransom of a few thousand or million dollars, the seriously frazzled parent can get the child back?
Or maybe that's already happened?
