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Child Drownings In Germany Linked To Parents' Obsession With Mobile Phones (theguardian.com)

Posted by BeauHD on from the phone-fixation dept.

The German Lifeguard Association (DLRG) has made a direct connection between children getting into difficulty in the water and parents being too busy on their mobile phones to notice. More than 300 people have drowned in Germany so far this year. The Guardian reports: "Too few parents and grandparents are heeding the advice: when your children and grandchildren are in the water, put your smartphone away," Achim Wiese, the DLRG's spokesman, said. "We're experiencing on a daily basis that people treat swimming pools like a kindergarten and simply don't pay attention," added Peter Harzheim of the German federation of swimming pool supervisors. "In the past, parents and grandparents spent more time with their children in the swimming pool. But increasing numbers of parents are fixated by their smartphones and are not looking left or right, let alone paying attention to their children," he told German media. "It's sad that parents behave so neglectfully these days." The organization also put some blame on the school system for not making swimming lessons required from an early age. "Budget cuts have also led to swimming pools shortening their opening times," adds The Guardian.

5 of 172 comments (clear)

  1. Must be multiple reasons ... by gordguide · · Score: 5, Interesting

    300 children drowning deaths over just a few months (summer) is an extraordinarily high number by my local and national standards. There must be more to it than just negligent parents using cellphones.

    Canadian parents use smartphones as much as anyone in a first-world country. Below is a comparison with Germany

    Note: I did not find specific data on children only in Germany, so we are comparing the news story's 300 over summer with Canada's annual numbers.

    Format: Germany // Canada

    Population (2018 estimate to Wed Aug 16)
    82,315,335 // 36,992,745
    Population Ratio:
    2.22:1

    Children Drowning Deaths Age 0~19
    300 (?) // 68

    Children Drowning Deaths Age 5~14
    300 (?) // 17

    **
    Expected number of deaths in Germany with adjustment for equivalent population (2.22 multiplier) at Canada's rate:
    Age 0-19: 151
    Age 5~14: 38

    Deaths per age group 5~14 by ype of waterbody:
    Unsupervised pools, lakes, rivers: 16
    Lifeguarded pools, lakes, beaches: 1

    So obviously it isn't just parents on smartphones that is the root cause. Canadian children have massive opportunity to enter water ... more freshwater than any country on earth, and using my city as an example* numerous city swimming / wading facilities. So opportunity for drowning certainly exists. Germany should explore overall water safety issues that obviously exist rather than focusing on a somewhat sensationalist "cause" that may or may not be valid.

  2. ACCESSORIES by xxxLCxxx · · Score: 4, Interesting

    This is not exclusive to Germans, of course:
    I have noticed that more and more young parents see their children as 'accessories', much like toys. In fact, this very morning I was asking myself whether this was a man calling his dog or a father shouting out to his son. I find myself wondering often about this. They use the same tone, the same language.
    On the other hand, you see persons talking to their dogs like they were people, constantly asking them questions as if they would respond, dressing them up, hugging and kissing them.
    I think that the smartphone underlines the fact that they only look at their kids when they don't have anything "better" to do. Accessories become boring eventually...

  3. So kids know how to swim, and parents swim? by raymorris · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Sounds like perhaps swimming is very popular in Canada? So kids learn how to swim, and therefore don't drown easily? Parents grew up swimming and enjoy it, so they get in the water with their kids?

  4. Immigration brings lots of non-swimmers by ffkom · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Over 2 million immigrants came to Germany since 2015, and relatively large part of their children never learned to swim - the rate was 21% vs. 12% in 2016, and probably did not improve since then: https://www.armut-und-gesundhe...

    But it is not only the children, also the adult non-swimmers are a problem - the press in Germany covered this topic repeatedly, for example: https://www.welt.de/vermischte...

    In addition, an estimated 2% of parents do not want their children to be educated in swimming at school for religious reasons, as they consider their visibility to others in this context as "sinful".

  5. You reap what you sow by nehumanuscrede · · Score: 1, Interesting

    Why is it everyone except the lawmakers or product designers see how distracting these GD things are ?

    Normally, I would say let nature take its course and those that die off due to being distracted during critical moments in life deserve it.
    It tends to tidy up the gene pool a bit.

    However, the victims of this problem aren't always isolated to those who cause it. They have a tendency to impact anyone in the general area
    which is where I have a problem with it. It's no more the drowning child's fault for their parents being stupid than it is a random driver on the
    freeway getting slaughtered because the idiot that rear-ended them at high speed was texting on their phone at the time.

    Basically, when common sense breaks down, laws have to be written in an effort to suppress the stupid.
    Until it happens, lots of innocent folks will suffer.

    So the whole " OMG TEH CHILDRENS ARE DROWNING " isn't really a problem.

    It's a symptom.