SOMEONE sent a video on WhatsApp about a young lad saving many lives as he halted the school bus he was riding while going to school. It so happened that the driver got a heart attack and lost control of the bus. This lad stopped the bus and saved the driver’s life as well as the passengers and people on the road who could have been crushed by the bus. It was surprising that only one boy was brave enough to help the driver while some other children and adults did not notice that the driver had lost control of the vehicle. Further inquiry revealed that all the other passengers were busy surfing their mobile phones and unaware of what was happening. The young hero did not have a mobile and was aware of the situation, so he helped and saved many lives. Mobile phone today has become the biggest engager of our attention, and people lose grasp of the situation, Though they are present on the spot of action they are not aware of what is going around.

Poor situational awareness can lead to critical errors that can lead to dangerous situations in life. Talking on the phone while riding a two-wheeler is another example of how mobiles are affecting our situational awareness. Before the mobile era, there were other reasons for people losing situational awareness. A lover lost in romantic thoughts would be unaware of the situation around or a naïve had the liberty of fooling around carelessly. Others were aware and alert and so available and sensitive to the situation around them. Recently an acquaintance lost his mother, his son was in the next room and was supposed to look after the ailing grandma and he did not answer the call for help from the grandmother because he was engrossed in surfing the net. When his father came home and visited the old lady’s room she was lying on the floor with things scattered on the floor indicating she had tried to raise the alarm. The grandson had earphones on and did not hear anything. My acquaintance was upset that his son could not help save his grandmother by giving timely help. His son did not feel guilty because he did not hear the call for help and so did not help. Situational awareness could have helped the young lad understand that earphones could render his presence useless and cost his grandmother her life. You may have the knowledge and intention to help but if you are not aware of the situation you are useless and also a dangerous person to have around in an emergency. In today’s world of progress and information, many may have theoretical knowledge of troubleshooting in case of emergency but very few can use it because they are not aware of the situation. There are four steps of situational awareness, observation, orientation, decision, and action. We fail at the first stage, we don’t observe so we don’t orient and so there is decision and action. Most of the heroic contributions in society are because of good observations, if we are engrossed in the world of mobile we become unaware of the surroundings and may end up being insensitive in cases of emergency.

There will be no difference between an inanimate object and we the living if we are not aware of the situation around us, observe, and embark on life’s journey. Life is beautiful.