The alarm on the ceiling flashes red as the Smart Board screen reads “code red lockdown,” abruptly disrupting the flow of class. A situation that could potentially threaten students’ safety instead spurs excited conversation. Students aren’t concerned about a potential threat, so they don’t make their way to their designated location. This unannounced drill actually brings a sense of relief across the classroom — a ten-minute break has begun. According to a survey conducted by The Muse, 64.8% of students report feeling glad they can get a break from class when an unexpected alarm goes off. The desensitization of students towards safety drills, which simulate a potential or immediate threat within a building or on campus, can be attributed to the increased prevalence of danger in our society.

Desensitization is when someone continuously experiences a stressor until it loses its initial importance because they have become too familiarized with it. 

While Florida law only requires public elementary, middle, and high schools to conduct six emergency drills every school year, with four of these simulating active threats, in the past, we’ve done more. During the 2023–2024 school year, the school conducted five fire drills and six lockdown drills — including two tornado drills. Additionally, there were a handful of times the fire alarm went off unexpectedly and we followed fire evacuation procedures and protocol, but those were not classified as drills. 

While the idea of constantly practicing a drill seems like it would be an effective way of increasing safety, when we practice the drills without considering their necessity, it’s desensitizing us to our safety precautions. 

They become counterproductive. If we can’t be trusted to perform drills with care now, how can we be expected to when it really matters? In order to resolve this issue, we must understand why we fail to take our safety seriously. School safety is worse off than before in part due to the desensitization caused by the flippantly and constantly discussed information we absorb every day about tragedies.

It feels like every time I turn on the morning news before school, people are reporting on a violent event. An old journalism cliché — “If it bleeds, it leads” — must be the criteria for determining what stories these media companies will share with the public. This further explains why “(a)round a third of Americans (32%) report seeing news about violent crime on a daily or weekly basis,” as per a Pew Research Center survey. Even though you may not watch the morning news, you are still exposed to unnecessary violence through TV shows and movies. When so much violence is thrust upon us every day, it becomes normalized, and we begin to care less. The solution to this problem is not to share fewer stories about tragedies; instead, take a moment to humanize these stories and think about the countless people who are affected and what we can do about it. 

Social media platforms have become forums for sharing stories of tragic violence — so often that we scroll right past them. They make it a little too easy. With a simple swipe, we leave a real story about a recent shooting to watch someone do a trendy dance. We have the luxury of swiping out of other people’s problems when we want to. Consequently, these stories no longer carry the same weight they would’ve if we truly spent the time understanding what happened. 

We’ve become immune to it. We have been overly consuming and familiarizing ourselves with disturbing media until it’s lost its “shock” factor. In our lives, we’ve become so familiarized with listening to disturbing stories every day that — unintentionally —  a code red or fire drill no longer seems so significant. According to a survey conducted by The Muse, in which we asked, on a scale of one to five — one being the least and five being the most — “how seriously do you think school safety drills are taken by students?” 45.3% of students answered a level two. Only 8.2% chose either a four or five. Students no longer feel the need to move quickly and quietly to the designated corner during a code red; students no longer feel the need to wait for their teacher and walk in single file as they rush down to the lawn in the case of a fire alarm; students no longer feel the need to crouch on the ground and protect their neck during a tornado drill, all because they know it’s just another drill. Even though we can’t blame ourselves for our desensitization, we can hold ourselves accountable for taking our safety and the safety of others in our society more seriously. 

In order to get students to respect school safety, we must first hold teachers accountable. When a drill begins, they need to be the first to take charge and put students in an environment that replicates the actual crisis the drill is practicing for. They need to lead by example to show that for each drill, we must practice like it’s the real thing — which many teachers already do. According to a recent survey by The Muse, 72.1% of students report that on the same scale of one to five, teachers took school safety drills seriously on either a level four or five. This leaves the remaining 27.9% of students rating their teachers a level one, two, or three. Although a minority, the percentage of students who feel teachers do not take drills seriously remains concerning when you consider that failing to perform properly during an actual threat could be fatal. 

We know that a teacher forgetting to lock the door, forgetting to black out the window, or failing to ensure their class is silent could make their class more of a target. But this rule-following doesn’t always result in students understanding the importance of school safety. When teachers do not address safety drills with the utmost importance, it leaves students feeling like they do not have to either. Teachers need to put aside time at the beginning of the year to explain the importance of these drills and how they could save their lives. By talking about past tragedies that have occurred in schools across our state, and learning to empathize with those who were victims — it would create a classroom environment that is more prepared during an actual crisis.

What has to happen for students to begin taking school safety seriously? Do we have to wait to become the next headline? According to U.S. News and World Report, from 2018 to 2023, 72 people were wounded or killed across 55 school shooting incidents in Florida. Facing the possibility of future incidents, the best protection we have is practicing drills with integrity. According to a recent survey by The Muse, 76.8% of students believe that fire drills are an effective way of maintaining safety, and 83.4% of students believe that code yellow and code red drills are an effective way of maintaining safety; however, when we’ve become accustomed to not treating them with importance, the drills no longer serve their intended purpose of creating a safer environment. 

When a story proclaiming a tragedy finds its way onto your page, don’t scroll away. Unfortunately, we are desensitized, but we don’t have to stay this way. Take your time to do research and understand more about the topic than just the rudimentary information given. Sympathize with victims of school violence and learn about what can be done to prevent future incidents. We recognize that drills can be repetitive or annoying, but the only thing we can do is prepare for the worst and begin taking drills as if we are actively in harm’s way. Although our society has desensitized us, we still need to do whatever we can to keep ourselves and our community safe. We are not just participating in a drill, we are building a safer school. In the event that our lives are endangered, we need to be able to ask ourselves and answer honestly: Are we ready?