Media Saturation and a History of False Alarms

May 25^th, 2011 (10:57 AM) – The tornado sirens just started going off. Almost simultaneously I saw The Weather Channel  app on my iPad pop up an alert announcing a tornado warning for my area. I ended the call I was on. I called Abbey down to the basement, and flipped on the local news.

I should state that Abbey is not real fond of severe weather, and I would not be exaggerating to say that tornado warnings really freak her out. At one point she asked, “Is it this bad every year?” Perhaps it is her approaching freedom of the parental control (and advice and comfort) that arrives with her departure for college that has increased her awareness of this potential danger. But that statement got me thinking, how bad was it when I was a kid?

 I remember numerous times as a kid growing up in Rock Island, IL where we retreated to the basement to seek cover. It was not often, but it happened enough that I can remember it. At least once a year, or so it seems.  We’d huddle in the basement with the radio trying to get some news. News was hard to come by from an AM radio in the late 60’s and early 70’s in Rock Island, IL.

Today we are overloaded with news. As I am watching Johnny Rowlands pilot NewsChopper 9 HD around some ominous clouds while transmitting the images to the HD TV in my basement office, I get a call from my mother in Rock Island, IL who is watching coverage of our severe weather on The Weather Channel. The Weather Channel scooped Johnny and Joel Nichols by reporting a tornado on the ground near 135^th and Metcalf. My mom, of course, is freaking out at this news as Rachel’s school is 5 blocks from that intersection. Shortly after that KMBC’s First Alert Doppler Radar HD showed the rotation near 135^th and Mission Road, and NewsChopper 9 captures several funnel clouds momentarily reaching the ground.

As I write this, I think how fortunate we are to have this much information available. I am 100% certain that this saves lives. Even a few seconds of a warning can mean the difference between life, injury, or death. But it also can be frightening. I think Abbey is fairly justified to be freaked out.  I sort of wonder how I would react if I were young. I think maybe my age plays against me. All those years of false alarms and uneventful trips to the basement may have given me a sense of apathy and indifference. I think this apathy is worse than growing up in the 70’s with limited information from an AM radio. At least then I was safely huddled in the basement.