Filed to: I don't like presidents playing on my phone

Photo : Photo by Win McNamee ( Getty Images )

When someone asks me to imagine what hell feels like, I envision it a little something like receiving a “good morning” text from President Donald Trump.


Well, congratulations everyone, because this afternoon we’re all inching a little closer to my personal definition of hell when the White House will utilize the presidential alert system to text nearly every cell phone in the U.S.

Here’s the good news: It’s just a test, and it’s not sent from Trump’s personal phone. The messages—which are unblockable, supposedly—are meant to warn Americans about a crisis, like a tsunami or a missile attack (objectively, hell). And, as Lifehacker reports, all the messages have to go through FEMA.


How to Avoid an 'Unblockable' Presidential Alert The President has the authority to send unblockable text messages to nearly every cell phone in the Read more

If you really, really don’t want to hear it from the president, though, Lifehacker does have a few recommendations that don’t involve throwing your phone out the window.

The text is scheduled for 2:18 p.m. EDT today, so you can set your phone to airplane mode for 30 minutes—that half hour buffer should be enough to outlast the “alert period” set by FEMA (otherwise, you’ll just get that annoying alarm 3 minutes later).

Or, set your phone to silent, and all you’ll get is a visual message.

Good morning.