Dear LPG readers, 

I have read many messages on your pages that offer a bit of insight into how pensioners have become more tech-savvy when it comes to using mobile phones over the past five years or so.  I suppose I can be described as an IT-savvy pensioner, as I left work with a bit of computer knowledge and a relatively solid understanding of what a mobile phone can do.  

I am not trying to blow my own trumpet, but if asked, before the pandemic, when they were considering getting one, many of my friends would have said that they had survived without one and could not see the point. 

Now, many of my seventy-something-year-old friends have one and at least know how to make a call or send a WhatsApp message to a friend. They are learning a few more things too, but when they want to take a photograph or something, a bit unpredictable happens. I am one of the people in our group who will be asked for some advice.

One of my friends recently asked me about something she had read, and we did some research, which I think we should share.

Did you know that the government have devised a new way to warn us of regional or national danger?  It may be something you have never heard about before, even though the Nationwide Emergency Alert System has been tested once and has been used five times in reality so far.  I suppose it is designed to warn us of national and regional emergencies that we need to be aware of quickly. Thankfully, there have not been many reasons to sound this alarm so far.  

Much like fire alarms in public buildings or the air raid alarms way back in the days of war.  If, God forbid, we needed to know about something as worrying as that now, our phones would be the ones to alarm us. 

Just like fire alarms, they need to be tested. On September 7th at 3 o’clock in the afternoon, the government plans to cause every mobile phone that they can reach to experience an alarm drill. 

As I said, I have friends who panic when their phone does something a little out of the ordinary, so I thought it might be a good idea to give LPG readers another opportunity to be prepared.   I have found some information about how your phone will react and what you need to do, and I hope that LPG will pass the message on to you so that a few more panicky older phone users will be a little more prepared.  

CR, New Cross

CR found some information…

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