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I will give this perspective. I was not on campus where the incident took place, rather I arrived on campus at about 9:15 that morning. Unfortunately I was running late that morning and hadn't looked at my cell phone before driving to campus. Once I arrived and was walking from the garage, the sirens started going off which tipped me off that something was very not right. It was then that I looked at my phone and saw the second message about the situation and directions to shelter in place.

For me, the text message was the trigger that raised my SA to red (including reminding me of the fact that I had left my pistol at home, as I was running late and going to campus and straight back home that day). I immediately went into the nearest building with heightened SA. Needless to say, I did not look at my phone again until I and a few others I had knew had secured ourselves.

At that point, when we were relatively safe, we turned to other means of gathering information about what exactly was going on, namely the good 'ol interwebs. I have thought about it since then, and the initial text message was a good thing; it alerted me to the danger, raising my SA. After that I, and no one that I saw, bothered with them until they had reached relative safety. So I didn't see it as debilitating at all in that situation. And if I had been at or closer to the site of the incident, I really wouldn't have bothered with my cell phone at all. I would be much more concerned with seeking immediate cover and safety.

So to answer your question more succinctly: the text message was good in that it immediately raised SA. It did not divide my attention or hinder my SA. Once I was alerted to the situation I was much more concerned with and focused on finding immediate safety rather than what messages were coming through on my phone.

Overall, I think with the exception of the first messages being a bit too vague, (the first message was simply "man on campus with gun, more info to follow", which we get a few times a year whenever there is a mugging on or near campus. I would have preferred "Man with Gun on campus, Do Not Come to Campus and shelter in place) I think the entire system worked well.

Lessons learned for myself:

1. Never. Never. Never Leave Pistol at Home. Even if I'm running late and going straight to campus and back home. (Normally I leave it locked locked in the car while on campus.)

2. Always check phone before leaving the house in the morning.