Imagine getting this text alert on your phone and thinking that you are going to die! lol

A hoax missile alert caused all sorts of chaos in Hawaii earlier today. People received a text alert on their phones claiming that a ballistic missile threat was inbound to Hawaii. The alert encouraged people to take shelter while stating that it was not a drill.

Daily Mail:

Panic spread through the state of Hawaii on Saturday morning when residents received a phone alert for an ‘inbound ballistic missile threat’ that was accidentally sent out by Civil Defense but which was not corrected for the best part of an hour.

Scores of confused residents tweeted screenshots of the warnings after receiving the alert at 8.07 local time.

It read: ‘BALLISTIC MISSILE THREAT INBOUND TO HAWAII. SEEK IMMEDIATE SHELTER. THIS IS NOT A DRILL’.

A similar message flashed up on local television networks and brought live sports games to a halt.

It was caused by an employee at Civil Defense who ‘pushed the wrong buttons’ during a shift handover.

The mistake was corrected by government agencies on Twitter 12 minutes later but it took 37 minutes for another phone alert to be issued confirming to residents that it was a false alarm. Some say they never received a second phone alert at all.

By the time it was issued, terrified residents and tourists including basketball legend Magic Johnson flocked to shelters and into their garages in fear of a nuclear attack.

Shit, it even freaked out Magic Johnson! I don’t know what’s more shocking, this hoaxed missile alert, or learning that Magic Johnson is still alive. I remember that big press conference he gave in the early 1990s explaining how he caught HIV or GRIDS or something. I figured he would have been dead by 2000, but he’s still alive somehow. Go figure!

But what I don’t get is how this alert was sent out by some dude pushing wrong buttons. Are there no safeguards in place to prevent some random person from pushing a few buttons and sending out a text alert to millions of people? Especially one with such precise text at a time when there are concerns about North Korea and their missile program.

This literally only happened a few hours ago so there’s lots that we don’t know. But based on what we do know, I have a hard time believing that this was caused by wrong button pushes. Further explanation is required.

The story has dominated the news cycle since it happened and has taken Donald Trump’s alleged “shithole” comments out of the top spot.

The hoax alert did cause a mass panic which in of itself isn’t funny but since I’m a sick person I laughed at it any way.