Have you ever been so focused on a task that when someone walked up and said hi, it scared you? While we’ve all experienced this before, whether playing on our cell phone, reading a book, or just focusing on something and thinking, this is a great example of poor situational awareness.
Situational awareness is defined by the U.S. Coast Guard as:
The ability to identify, process, and comprehend the critical elements of information about what is happening to the team with regards to the mission. More simply, it’s knowing what is going on around you.
Having poor situational awareness can increase the potential for mistakes and can put you in harm’s way from threats both accidental and deliberate. Below, we’ll look at some common causes of loss of situational awareness and how to fix them. Before we do though, let’s look at what exactly situational awareness means and why it’s important to you.
Situational Awareness
The age of smartphones in every pocket has brought with it a true lack of situational awareness. Think about it: How many people do you see with headphones in and their heads down looking at their phones on any given day? Once you start looking for it, the number will surprise you. Sure, this act itself is not damaging, but the lack of awareness can very easily cause them harm.
From the innocuous walking into a sign to the far more dangerous walking in front of a car or falling into a hole, not paying attention to the world around you can definitely hurt. These accidental sources of harm are bad enough, but what about deliberate acts of violence? Not paying attention to the world around you opens you up for direct, deliberate attacks from those who would hurt you or take what belongs to you. Visibly not paying attention makes you a perfect target.
Widen the scope a little more and think about large-scale danger like terrorist attacks or natural disasters. Paying attention to the world around you can give you valuable seconds that could easily save your life. From seeing someone setting a backpack down and running away from it to noticing the water receding from the beach as the precursor to a tsunami, paying attention matters.
The Loss of Situational Awareness
More often than not, the loss of situational awareness is caused by what’s known as “the bubble” or “tunnel vision.” The bubble refers to the imaginary bubble that surrounds each of us and holds our perception and awareness of the world around us.
For example, as I sit and type this in a coffee shop, my situational awareness bubble is often no wider than the small table and two chairs. My focus is on my computer and the 1–2 feet around my table. The rest is just white noise. As I type, my focus draws in even further to only what’s happening on my screen. This tunnel vision keeps my situational awareness down to only the tunnel of vision between the screen and me. While this is great for writing, it’s absolutely terrible for situational awareness.
In this example, the best I can hope for is to keep my bubble as wide as possible, but remove the tunnel vision. By doing this, I can notice who walks in and any emotional talking or sounds that could signal a stressful situation.
Other than focus on a task, common causes for loss of situational awareness include:
- Complacency
- Overload
- Fatigue
Most of us fall into the complacency category, as it’s the common assumption that everything around us is under control and working as expected. Planning for the worst-case scenario and practicing are both great ways to avoid complacency. Don’t worry excessively, but know that the world around you can change on a dime.
Overload can be a major cause of distraction. In an emergency it’s all too easy to become overwhelmed with the disaster, which causes you to overlook closer, more direct threats. Think about it this way: If you experience a riot break out around you, you can be so caught up in it that you don’t see the car coming down the street right at you. Practice, plan, and think about what’s in your bubble.
Fatigue affects us all. You can practice being able to function on lack of sleep, but when it comes down to it, you miss things when you’re tired. Not only does lack of sleep itself hurt your situational awareness, but being “on” constantly can mentally fatigue you, too. Even soldiers in wartime environments take time to stand down every now and then, as this gives their brains time to reset and their situational awareness to get back on track.
Stay Alert
Having Better Situational Awareness with Mindfulness
The key to having situational awareness is to be mindful. This art that is often practiced in meditation has its uses for prepping, too. By taking the time to be mindful, you place yourself in the moment, which is what situational awareness is all about.
Going back to my own example above about the coffee shop—while, yes, I do pay attention mostly to my writing, I take the time to be mindful and look around from time to time. This helps me to take note of who’s around me and what the general temperament of the room is. Are there people running past outside? Is anyone staring at me, my computer, or my bag? Does the staff look more stressed than they should? These are all small pieces to the larger situational awareness puzzle.
By collecting these pieces, we can all become more aware of the world around us. By doing this, you can avoid dangers large and small while keeping calm. Listen to music, look at your smart phone, and write your articles, but take the time to be aware and in the moment while you do it. Don’t fool yourself; when it comes to disaster, minutes and even seconds matter, and these minutes and seconds are gained with proper situational awareness.