• @alyaza Is it really that hard to dial 🇪🇺 112, 🇺🇸 911, 🇦🇺 000, or whatever the number in your country is?

    There may be lots of problems with emergencies all over the world, but dialing the actual number isn’t one of them.

    • alyaza [they/she]@beehaw.orgOPM
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      14
      ·
      1 year ago

      There may be lots of problems with emergencies all over the world, but dialing the actual number isn’t one of them.

      well, there’s a couple benefits i can see to a quick-dial: in an emergency situation time is of the essence and you want as little hassle as possible in reaching emergency services. maybe for some reason you can’t dial well, or at all–maybe you’re panicking and a shortcut button gives you a less entropic way of calling emergency services.

      • HolyHell@lemmy.fmhy.ml
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        6
        ·
        1 year ago

        Or a situation where you’re in danger and taking your phone out of your pocket isn’t an option.

    • cosmic_skillet@lemmy.ml
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      12
      ·
      1 year ago

      In an emergency, unlocking a phone, accessing the dialing app, then dialing the correct number on a touchscreen all add considerable friction.

      What if you’re wearing gloves? What if the screen is broken? What if it isn’t your phone? What if your hands are wet? What if the fine motor control of your fingers doesn’t work well because you’re injured/cold/burned/weak? What if you can’t see well because of an eye issue or smoke…

      Being able to tap an actual hardware button a few times can prove invaluable during these kinds of emergency situations.

      • saigot@lemmy.ca
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        10
        ·
        edit-2
        1 year ago

        A dumbass cousin of mine shot himself while all alone. It took him about 10minutes to call 911 because the blood on his fingers made it hard to use a touch screen. Knowing about the shortcut would surely have helped.

      • TheElectroness@beehaw.org
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        4
        ·
        1 year ago

        Every android phone I’ve had had a one-press ‘Emergency’ underneath the 0 on the lock screen, is it not the same for others? (although I’d argue that is too easy to hit)

        • cosmic_skillet@lemmy.ml
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          3
          ·
          1 year ago

          I think this is common, but it still doesn’t address the issues with using touchscreens and sight in emergency situations.

    • verysoft@kbin.social
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      1
      ·
      1 year ago

      Got me thinking how awkward 911, 112 is to call on modern phones with one hand. 999 and 000 are much quicker to dial being only 1 number and at the bottom of the dial pad, 000 especially, being in the middle for left and right handers.

      • auxim@kbin.social
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        4
        ·
        1 year ago

        Fair, but that’s also on purpose, to reduce the chance of accidental calls. It’s why this 5-press system seems to have issues, there is no second validation. You should never be in a situation where you’re uncertain if you triggered an emergency call or not.

        • verysoft@kbin.social
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          1
          ·
          1 year ago

          Yeah, pros and cons to it.
          I have never heard of this being a problem until recently, the feature has been around a while. It should probably be disabled by default or have some other failsafe in place.