- Mark Hatmaker
- Mar 25, 2025
- 4 min read
“The only fights you truly win are the ones you don't have.” – Lee Child
Keeping that quote in mind, along with the fact that crime is a product of opportunity, will take you a long way toward being a "master of self-defense" in that it simply removes as many opportunities as possible from your behavior.
That said, let me point to a bit of advice from a former CIA operative named Jason Hanson, who says that the No. 1 tip he can offer to make people a bit more like Jason Bourne is this: "Always be aware of your surroundings."
Easier said than done, right? Well, he goes a bit further by offering what he considers the most important thing you can do to increase your awareness of your surroundings: Don’t use a smartphone in public.
Hanson says spy craft prohibits the use of smartphones not just because of the tracking potential but because it encourages "absorption," or a retreat from where you are to a place that’s not here. He points to the numerous instances of car crashes related to smartphone use but says that observation doesn’t go far enough.
He’s cataloged an impressive battery of incidents in which victims were chosen simply because they were the animals at the watering hole with their heads down, blind to their surroundings.
Lest anyone think that my use of the word "blind" goes too far, Hanson backs up his contention with copious examples of security-camera footage of people being blindsided in all sorts of public spaces. The reason: Their eyes were glued to the screen of their cellphone.
Two astonishing examples come to mind. The first took place in a bar that was robbed at gunpoint. The predator actually stood next to the smartphone user during the robbery. The smartphone user moved down a seat as if courteously giving the man some room.
He never looked up from the screen. When the police arrived after the robbery, the smartphone user had nothing to offer in assistance. He had no idea the robbery even happened.
The second example involves an incident aboard a bus in San Francisco. The footage clearly shows all the passengers with their faces glued to their screens as a man got on board. The new rider then pulled out a gun and brandished it — while no one noticed.
The predator looked confused, put away the weapon, seemed to think for a moment and then pulled it out again. This time, he used it. The precious window of opportunity to avert the tragedy had been lost.
If you think, "I’m not that way — I’m perfectly aware of my surroundings even while I use this marvel of technology," you’re dismissing all the science that describes the way the human brain functions. As researchers always tell us, we simply do not multitask well.
In a recent study of time-loss perception, smartphone users were timed by hidden observers while they periodically checked their phones in a casual dining environment.
When asked how long they thought their interaction with the phone had lasted, they consistently underestimated the time by 80 percent. Translation: Human beings generally have no idea how long their attention is actually lost, how long they are blind.
Side rant: I’ve got a biased dog in this fight. I abhor texting and phone use in my presence. I think it’s rude. It says to the others who are present: "Yeah, you’re here, but this person who didn’t take the time to actually come out and meet with me is going to be my priority. You’re my analog booty call."
I see this behavior displayed even by folks I personally like. It appears to be a cultural shift that I don’t get. It would not fly a decade ago. It would have been akin to me stopping in the middle of a conversation, pulling out a worn copy of Moby Dick and knocking off a page or two before getting back to my fellow human being. Even inveterate texters would find that a bit odd, if not rude.
But I assure you that today’s lesson is not "Black Belt writer shakes his finger at kids today." It’s about being situationally aware. Being blind to your dinner companions is one thing, but being blind to predators with weapons is another.
Knowing that trained CIA personnel are taught to drop the smartphone, how can anyone think that lesser-trained citizens will be more resistant to its temptations?
I offer a challenge for those who are brave: Leave your phone at home for 24 hours. Be awake for a day. Be aware. Next, shoot for a week — particularly if you found being phoneless for a day uncomfortable.
It’s a testament to the power of these devices that when I task clients with a difficult drill such as doing 500 burpees in a day, they usually complete it, but when I ask them to wean themselves off their smartphone for a few days, the failure rate is far higher.
In a nutshell, you can’t have it both ways. You can’t be prepared operators in the world who claim to value situational awareness and self-protection and at the same time be checking every ping and chime that emanates from that electronic leash. Aware martial artists don't text in public, and they don’t surf the Web there, either.
By all means, carry a phone for the conveniences and safety measures it provides, but make it a flip-top phone that is, well, a phone.
