Are Americans’ Smartphones Making Them Sitting Ducks For A Terrorist Attack?

Smartphones may make your life so much easier. You can use them to play games, read books, watch movies/television, and even get more work done in half the time that it would have taken you before.

But a new report from the website Quartz also calls into question whether they are making citizens sitting ducks for a terrorist attack.

In the report, Baroness Neville-Jones, former head of the Joint Intelligence Committee in the UK, is quoted as telling BBC Radio 4 that “too many citizens seem oblivious of their surroundings.”

She continued.

“I think being alert is very important. I am alarmed by the number of people I see wandering along the street entirely engaged in their mobile telephones and with their ears plugged into music and they are not aware of their surroundings. You need to be aware of your surroundings.”

Host Lord John Browne then pushed back and said that citizens “should be able to live their lives as they wish,” but Neville-Jones wasn’t having it.

“You do have to take some personal responsibility,” she said. “I do think we can be more alert than we are.”

To seemingly go along with Neville-Jones, Quartz also quoted this statement from Deputy Assistant Commissioner Neil Basu, made in November.

“I would urge the public not to be concerned about things they are unable to control, but to focus instead on what they can do that will make a difference. Be vigilant and you could be the person who spots something odd or unusual and prevents an attack.”

Vigilance. That’s the key word, and it’s one that seemed absent largely over the holiday season and, to a lesser degree, in the downtime before and after.

You’ve probably noticed it yourself — and maybe even been guilty of it. Walking from store to store, head craned downward while studying the latest text or news story or notification that gleams brightly from the high-definition screen.

With more and more unhinged gunmen targeting densely trafficked areas like shopping malls and movie theaters, it may be a good idea to do as Neville-Jones suggests and give your smartphones a break.

Spacial awareness and making a note of anything that seems out of the ordinary are good ideas if you are in a situation that might attract a shooter.

These suggestions from Neville-Jones are reminiscent of a December Talk Business article in which Arkansas Police Major Dean Pitts suggested the following safety precaution in the buildup to Star Wars: The Force Awakens‘ opening weekend.

“Look for suspicious activity of any kind,” he said. “For instance, if it’s warm weather and someone’s wearing a long coat, that’s not a normal thing. People who are acting very nervous when they shouldn’t be, unusual behavior. A lot of times in an active shooter scenario, the assailant will be very tense or stressed or angry.”

As Americans become more engrained in their smartphones, it isn’t bad driving that they need to be solely on the lookout for. Any type of scenario — shopping, movies, eating out — should come with a built-in awareness.

It does not mean that you are “allowing the terrorists to win” if you go out in public with the possibility and increased vigilance in mind.

Americans should still engage in their culture, have fun, and live life. But smartphones are becoming increasingly detrimental to spacial awareness, and that’s the No. 1 thing that could save your life in any active shooter or domestic terrorism scenario.

Do you think people are too glued to their smartphones out in public, and if so, do you think that it makes them a sitting duck for an attack? Sound off in the comments section.

[Image via ShutterStock]