Bad Survival Advice - Change Your Voice Mail Greeting During An Emergency

 

 
 
 

According to an MSN News article, the Charlton, MA Police Department suggests that if you are lost or stranded you should change your voice mail to let people know... ???  This seems like a very BAD IDEA! If I am lost, stranded, or injured why would I not call for help or at least send a text message alerting friends and family to a potential problem? To change voice mail on a phone you need to have active cellular service (your voice mail message isn't local on your device - that is why you call the voice mail number to hear your messages or change your out-going message, and why people can hear your voice mail and leave a message when your phone is off). If all you do is change your voice mail, the only people who will know you need help are people who call you and listen to your voice mail out-going message. What happens if you are lost and nobody calls you for two or three days? - If you have cell service and need emergency help CALL 9-1-1. If it is a potential problem, send a couple of text messages and let someone know, don't just hope that someone will listen to your voice mail message after your phone dies!

This is not the first time the idea of changing your voice mail greeting during an emergency has been suggested, but in each prior case the same concerns about why this is a bad idea have been raised. Snopes, USA Today, and Lead Stories have all 'fact checked' this recommendation and found it wanting.

Here in BC, Coquitlam Search & Rescue has stated that this advice is "LIFE THREATENING MISINFORMATION".

 

The Skamania County [WA] Sherrif's Office Search and Rescue  commented on the recommendation to change your voice mail during an emergency, saying:

"Recently a Facebook post has gone viral telling people to "update their voice mail" if their battery is going low. This is not the best advice, and will likely not work. We would like to ask that you not follow this advice, clarify why this is bad advice, and suggest better options.

STAY WITH YOUR VEHICLE, STAY NEAR A ROAD OR TRAIL. If you have any battery life, send a text message. It only takes a fraction of a second of data reception to get that message out. This has a much better chance to make it through than updating your voice mail.

Why is the circulated post/meme poor advice?
1.  Anything using voice on your phone uses up far more battery than texts/SMS.  Do not use voice if your battery is running low.
2.  A detailed SMS message uses a fraction of the data that a voice message uses, and can transmit using a much weaker signal than a voice call requires. If you have a weak signal, SMS will transmit when voice will not.
3.  If you don’t have a signal, you can’t change your VM. Don’t waste your battery attempting this

What should you do instead?
1.  Put your phone in airplane mode to conserve power.
2.  Compose an SMS message to all your trusted contacts.  Write where you are (as best as you can, bonus points for GPS coordinates!), your condition, and any info needed to locate you. It is FAR easier for a hasty team to locate a vehicle on a road/trail than to locate a person that has gone off into the brush.
3.  When you are happy with your detailed SMS message, turn off airplane mode, send, and cross your fingers that your tiny SMS data-packet gets out to us!
4.  STAY WITH YOUR VEHICLE, STAY NEAR A ROAD OR TRAIL.
5.  If that doesn’t work, our team will be sending in Teams and K9’s to come get you. (Assuming you told someone where you were going and when you'd be back. You did remember to tell someone your plans, right?)" 

 

While the Charlton, MA Police Department and others who have posted this suggestion are no doubt well-meaning, the advice has some serious issues which could delay emergency rescue.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Survival is Your Own Responsibility

Image
Daryl R. Miller, a Retired Mountaineering Ranger at Denali National Park, included some of his thoughts on survival in an article published on the National Park Service web-site (March 5, 2020):  We have re-posted Ranger Miller's bullet points here, and recommend that you read his thought-provoking article in toto. * Everyone has a personal responsibility to maintain self-sufficiency in the wilderness and should always base decisions on getting back on their own.      * Your best resource is the ability to think in a controlled manner when a life-threatening crisis is happening.      * Prevention, not treatment, is what ultimately will save your life in the wilderness. There is a notable difference between a gamble and a calculated risk. A calculated risk considers all the odds, justifies the risk, and then makes an intelligent decision based on conservative judgment. A gamble is something over which you have no control and the outcome is just a roll ...
Read more

Will There Be Food Shortages in the Coming Year?

Image
According to the USDA : " There are currently no nationwide shortages of food, although in some cases the inventory of certain foods at your grocery store might be temporarily low before stores can restock. Food production and manufacturing are widely dispersed throughout the U.S. and there are currently no wide-spread disruptions reported in the supply chain. " In 2021 , food-at-home prices are expected to increase between 2.5 and 3.5 percent, and food-away-from-home prices are expected to increase between 3.5 and 4.5 percent. In 2022, food-at-home prices are expected to increase between 1.5 and 2.5 percent, and food-away-from-home prices are expected to increase between 3.0 and 4.0 percent. Drug Shortages Drug Shortages can occur for many reasons, including manufacturing and quality problems, delays, and discontinuations. Manufacturers provide FDA most drug shortage information, and the agency works closely with them to prevent or reduce the impact of shortages. The FDA da...
Read more

Emergency Preparedness Cooking

Image
  Disaster preparedness planning recommends that every family have at least two-weeks of supplies set aside in case of emergency. Many people by bulk foods, such as bags of beans, bags of rice, along with various canned foods for their emergency food supply. This is reasonably inexpensive and provides bulk food that can be stored for a long time. But, what happens if you have to use your emergency food in the aftermath of a disaster? Can you prepare nutritious, tasty meals using your storage food? You may read in some preparedness forums that "you'll eat anything if you're hungry enough". While this may or may not be true, we believe that it is bad planning to assume that your family will be best served by having to choke down some bad tasting gruel for breakfast, lunch, and dinner while attempting to recover from a disaster. Having a hot, nutritious, and good tasting meal can improve morale, reduce stress, and prevent illness. We recommend learning to prepare meals f...
Read more