On Oct. 4, 2023 at 2:20pm EST, FEMA and the FCC conducted a 20-minute emergency test that was pushed to all TVs, Radios, and Cell Phones. If you’re a resident of the United States and had your cell phone on during this time, you may’ve seen an ominous-looking dialog box pop up on your smartphone’s screen informing you of this test, followed by a prolonged, grating, beeping noise that’s difficult to ignore.
Hearing this noise on one cell phone can be jarring enough, but imagine having to listen to a concerto comprised of dozens of devices blasting this emergency message at once. That’s what happened to a T-Mobile worker and TikToker named Riya (@riya.bandss) who recorded herself having to sequentially turn off each and every alarm on each and every display phone after the alarm was sounded.
Her clip showing the chaos of the 30+ phone emergency message bash accrued over 754,000 views on the popular social media platform, and tons of commenters admitted they were also shocked and flustered when the notice came through on their own devices.
@riya.bandss Replying to @RII 30+ phones went off at the same time #fyp #alert #oct4 #phone ♬ original sound – Riya.bandss
In the clip, Riya records herself, at the behest of another user on the platform, hopping from phone to phone to shut end the notification, even noting that the sound comes through on T-Mobile’s flip phone offerings.
“Oh my God,” she mutters to herself and she hops to different phones, stopping the notifications on them. You can sense the feeling of panic she feels when she gets to one of the devices that seemingly won’t power on but is still emitting a sound. Thankfully the screen turns on and she’s able to hit the dialog prompt so that she could go on to shut other devices.
Riya adds in a caption for the video: “This national emergency is about to make me quit!”
It’s not like Riya was unprepared for this moment, either. Before displaying the madness that she endured as a result of the FEMA test, she uploaded another clip that shows her walking throughout the store, visibly stressed about the upcoming onslaught of notifications she was going to have to endure during her shift.
@riya.bandss This national emergency is about to make me quit! #nationalemergency #alert #call ♬ original sound – GLOSS
Commenters who responded to Riya’s video were also taken aback by the notification.
One person penned, “It was 2 minutes early and I was NOT prepared.”
Another highlighted some of the conspiracy theories surrounding the Oct. 4 FEMA alert, penning that the test wasn’t as intense as they thought it was going to be. “They said if my phone wasn’t off I was gon go deaf… It went off for less than a second and sounded like a regular amber alert,” they said.
USA Today referenced a speculative theory posted on social media as to what the clandestine reasoning was behind the FEMA emergency notification push: the specific broadcast frequency on the notification would “activate” graphene oxide particles injected into individuals via COVID-19 vaccines.
The outlet noted that this wasn’t the case, especially since the frequency is one that has been used for decades and has never had an adverse effect on folks who’ve listened to it in the past. “The alert signal is a routine practice from FEMA and the signal used is the same familiar tone that has been used since the 1960’s,” the outlet stated.
There were several commenters who replied to Riya’s TikTok who said that they didn’t even receive, the alert, and then some folks said that they received two: one in English and another in Spanish.
The Daily Dot has reached out to Riya via TikTok comment and T-Mobile via email for further information.
