Fight Like A Girl seems like a brilliant App that everyone must have on their smartphones. Its only $2.99 and acts like a personal alarm system. The question is: does it really work, or is it too good to be true? I bought it to find out, and just recently got around to testing it as for me it wouldn’t be a primary defensive tool in a critical encounter.
I’ve said many times in class that we need redundancies in our personal defensive systems. However, a system needs to be proven to be effective or I do not trust it with my safety.
Many people think that dialing 911 is easy: law enforcement will show up immediately and save the day. That’s the plan, of course, but reality is different. If you’re thinking about dialing 911, you are likely panicking, and your fine and gross motor skills aren’t working very well. This reality and many other concepts like it are discussed in our Situational Awareness class.
The App sounded like a great solution – you just push the screen, your phone knows exactly where you are and the officers can get to your location easily. To top it off, it has an audible alarm that bellows, “The police are on the way, the police are on the way…” There is a silent mode to push if you don’t want to alert someone that you are calling 911. All this seemed so wonderful…until I tried it out. I have learned to doubt products after reading the marketing claims until I’ve tried them for myself.
I decided to test it and called the local police dispatcher and told him what I wanted to test. He was more than willing to help out. I activated the app and he waited for 10 full minutes to get my alert and never got it.
This app may work in some locations, I’m not discounting that possibility. I don’t think I was doing anything wrong (it’s pretty simple), but in an emergency, that’s not the time to find out.
With many self defense tools, reality is different than described. Does pepper spray really shoot 15 feet? Stay tuned for that one.
My advice to you is that when seconds count, dial 911 the old fashioned way.
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Beth is the founder of Pretty Loaded. On a mission to install strength, awareness, and confidence, Beth began her journey as an educator and National speaker after a close encounter with a would-be predator. She has trained thousands of people in person, and through her online training and videos around the world. Her safety videos reach millions globally! She is responsible for starting the National Situational Awareness Day and this was approved by the registrar of the National Day Calendar. Beth has been featured on Consumer Reports, Reddit, Yahoo!Finance, Elite Readers, BuzzFeed, ViralNova, and many more networks. Beth loves spending her time reading, playing tennis, cooking, and painting. She is married and has four wonderful girls, a supermicro pig named Clover Smalls, and lives on an organic produce farm and vineyard.