New text system alerts you to danger

DAYTON, Ohio (WDTN) - Most of us use our cell phones for everything from getting directions to looking up the latest weather conditions on our 2 News App.

Now the government and the wireless industry are using it as a tool to alert you to danger immediately.

The new Commercial Mobile Alert System alerts you first with a sound.  That's followed by a message that is sent to cell phones, alerting users about emergency issues, like the blizzard earlier this week.

The system also notifies cell phone users of presidential and amber alerts.

It uses cell towers to alert people in a specific geographic area.  Even if you are out of town, if the area you are visiting is under alert, you will receive a message.

Many people heard it for the first time with this week's blizzard warning.

"It woke me up and kind of warned me about the weather that I was hearing about. I didn't know it was really happening and I thought that was kind of cool.  My mom, her phone went off.  I thought it was kind of neat," says Amber Smith.

Most people say they aren't worried about the privacy issues of this new alert system.

"I was actually very glad to receive something like that because you want to know about those things," comments Kaylee Rutledge.

"It can be a good thing.  Definitely makes you aware of what's going on in the community.  It's a good thing," explains Pete Kinney.

You can turn off most of the alerts by going to notifications under the general settings on your phone.  But, you're not able to block alerts issued by the President.