The toughest of situations call for the toughest of people. Alex, the son of a popular TikTok carpenter, displayed maximum resilience and resourcefulness during a particularly scary moment.
The anxiety-inducing incident was captured by the security camera of the boy’s family’s home, and shared on the Cooke & Sons Carpentry TikTok account, which is run by dad Mike Cooke. “I am so proud of him,” Alex’s dad captioned the video, which showed the kid attempting to get Alexa to call 911 after his grandmother had had a heart attack. The woman was in another room.
The video, which has 1.6 million views, also brought attention to the fact that Alexa, a virtual assistant technology first released by Amazon in 2014, does not allow users to request a 911 call. After Alex ran into the living room and ordered the device to make the call, it told him it could only do so through its Emergency Assist service, which delayed the process and frustrated the young man, who was already under extreme pressure. He eventually asked Alexa to call an Emergency Helpline.
After Alexa finally put him through to an assistant, he gave out his address, and the person assured him help was on the way. The guttural wail Alex released after he had finally successfully called for assistance is absolutely agonizing.
In the comments, TikTok users theorized that Amazon doesn’t allow Alexa to call 911 to avoid prank calls, but insisted the feature should be changed. “Whoever in charge of alexa needs to allow us to call 911 because omg that was scary. Glad he got in touch with someone [sic],” one netizen weighed in, while many others called for the return of landlines. “We need to bring landlines back, that whole hesitation with the Alexa can be so dangerous. I’m glad he was able to get through to someone at least,” said another commentator.
Alexa does offer an emergency assistance service that connects users to trained agents “who can request the dispatch of emergency responders – such as police, the fire department, or an ambulance – based on information you provide on the call,” according to the Amazon website. The only caveat is that it is a paid subscription that costs up to $7.99 per month for non-Prime members (Prime members pay two dollars less).
The upside to the service, much like Alexa in general, is that it allows you to call for help from anywhere as long as your device is within hearing distance. A landline or your smartphone allows you to call 911 for free, but you’re forced to be near them to do so. Amazon used to sell a device called Echo Connect that connected “your home phone to your compatible Alexa-enabled device to call any phone number, using just your voice,” but it was discontinued in February 2024.
Thankfully, Alex was cool-headed enough to get his grandmother help in time. In the video, his dad calls him a hero and says the older woman “is ok.”
