People typically operate on five distinct levels of awareness. There are many ways to describe these levels. Cooper's colors, for example, is a system frequently used in law enforcement and military training. At Stratfor, however, we have found that the most effective way to illustrate the differences between the levels is to compare them to the different degrees of attention people practice while driving. For our purposes here, we will refer to the five levels as "tuned out," "relaxed awareness," "focused awareness," "high alert" and "comatose." Stratfor's Situational Awareness Scale Stratfor's Situational Awareness Scale The first level, tuned out, is similar to when a person is driving in a very familiar environment or is engrossed in thought, a daydream, a song on the radio or even by the kids fighting in the backseat. Increasingly, cellphone calls and texting are also causing people to tune out while they drive.