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Child Drownings In Germany Linked To Parents' Obsession With Mobile Phones (theguardian.com)
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.
Stop taking kids to the pool. Ain't nobody got time for that shit!
...gis sdrawkcab (usually not responding to ACs; don't bother posting as AC)
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) // 36,992,745
82,315,335
Population Ratio:
2.22:1
Children Drowning Deaths Age 0~19 // 68
300 (?)
Children Drowning Deaths Age 5~14 // 17
300 (?)
**
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.
Doesn't matter if they're watching TV or posting/reading facebook.
Other bad parents may leave their kids in a 120 degree car while they gamble in a casino, or attend a nice crack party.
Bad parents may also forget the kid at a store, or library, or just leave a 5 year old home alone by themselves, so the bad parent can go on a weekend vacation.
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...
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?
Right now, the second post on the first page is Fewer Than Half of Young Americans Are Positive About Capitalism with a timestamp of an hour and a half ago, despite almost all posts being much older--the first post is a day and a half older.
What is happening?
...but that's one of those topics that the MSM shall not discuss in Europe.
Simply because it wasn't immigrants drowning?
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".
Child drownings in Germany are linked to children not learning to swim anymore because baths are closing left, right and center and learning to swim isn't a collective basic skill anymore.
Also fugitives from Afrika often don't know the concept of learning to swim.
Parents addicted to their smartphone comes in on a far back 3rd or 4th on the list of reasons.
The German press is full of this in the last year or so. Federal level is thinking about making swimming lessons mandatory again and public baths closing down due to lack of money is a problem discussed at federal level too.
We suffer more in our imagination than in reality. - Seneca
What a mindblowingly stupid idea.
Yes, this is horrible, this idea.
Signature deleted by lameness filter.
That's not true. Locally, this is being reported. There was a recent drowning trial here (negligence) and those were very German Germans. ;-)
At the lakes one sees relatively few foreigners. If, then these are usually in groups - together. This makes it difficult to drown unnoticed.
The antisocial behaviour of swimming alone and letting children swim alone, is typical for Germans. If you send two Germans to the meadow, there will be a fence between them a short time later.
We call it, "thinning the herd".
I've calculated my velocity with such exquisite precision that I have no idea where I am.
The Guardian headline makes it seem like parents distracted by mobile phones was a major factor in the drownings.
But according to the article:
"Among the drownings have been more than 20 children under the age of 15, and 40 young women and men between the ages of 16 and 25."
Here one can see statistics for 2016/2017:
https://www.dlrg.de/presse/pm-...
by age:
https://www.dlrg.de/fileadmin/...
by location:
https://www.dlrg.de/fileadmin/...
Note that most drownings happen in rivers and lakes. I think it likely that the nice 2018 summer led to more people swimming at outdoor locations, hence we see an alarming number of drownings. The statistics by age doesn't indicate that parents distracted by mobile phones are the major reason for drownings, and i doubt that changed in 2018.
Nevertheless it is good advice to at least keep an eye on your child while it is in the water.
"By the way if anyone here is in advertising or marketing... kill yourself." -- Bill Hicks
You would sooner leap to some racist conclusion completely at odds with the official statistics? Maybe that's why the MSM isn't discussing it in Europe - it's racist nonsense.
obvious bots are obvious
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You're like a sad little stuck record. Your life must be hell.
Calling out cellphones seems questionable, it isn't like parents didn't have many distractions in the past they took to the beach.
This mother's daughter almost drowned, because the mother stopped watching her for a short while.
This article says the symptoms of drowning are not obvious. The article quotes five statements. Quoted statements 3 and 4 say that when someone is drowning, it's impossible for them to raise their arms and wave. (I'm not a doctor or a psychologist, so I don't know if the article is right.)
Won't work unless there's a reward. Sprinkle coins on the screen every time they look over at their child. /s
When I say fugetives I mean, ... guess what? ... fugitives. Families from Syria and the African savanna aren't exactly know for sending their kids to swim lessons. And why would they - they mostly live(d) in the desert anyway. I bet dollars to donuts that one of the most fascinating things for a family from North Nigeria is seeing a publicly accessible body of water and see others going for a dip and attempting the same. "How much water can you take in Germany?" Is a common question to tourist in rural Afrika. The answer "as much as you want" is a big source of amazement. ... Our climate zones are vastly different and that also makes for the disproportionate amount of poverty in these countries. A cold hard technical fact very often overlooked in the fugetive discussion.
Hence the problem of a disproportionate amount of children of fugitive families drowning as they aren't familiar with the dangers associated with huge amounts of water.
I have absolutely no idea what your racist thing is here, as nothing of what I'm saying is racist. So chill. ... Thanks.
We suffer more in our imagination than in reality. - Seneca
Comment removed based on user account deletion
Nah, we just need an augmented reality beach and pool app that gamifies child rearing.
You think you are funny but you are not. Right now, I am working with a public health organization to develop a suite of apps for crappy parents that is not too far from what you just described.
well, actually, the point of the first amendment is to be free of persecution from the government for your speech/self expression.
I'd argue, personal opinion or not, as the leader of the governments most 'executive' branch, the 1/3rd of the ruling body, the one that is specifically charged with 'operations', that the president calling for NFL players to be fired, is 'persecution by the government'
so no, to me he is not entitled to the same free speech, because his speech is 'from the government'
There wouldn't be more drownings this year over last year because there's a record breaking heatwave this summer and thus more people swimming. No it's definitely because parents are looking at their phones way more than they were last year.
I'm sure they have detailed statistics from previous years of how much time parents spent staring at their phones compared to this year to prove their "direct connection".
Canadian children have massive opportunity to enter water ... more freshwater than any country on earth
Canada does not have the most freshwater resources. They are 4th on the list behind Brazil, Russia and (just barely) the USA.
"More than 300 people ..."
How many were children?
How many are there by this time on average?
Of the ones who were children, how many had parents with them?
They need to do their homework.
Nope, no sig
In addition, there are parents in the U.S. who do not want their kids vaccinated against an STD, papillomavirus (HPV), for "religious" reasons, not necessarily part of the Anti-Vaccers wing-nuts.
This is true. This is a different brand of wing-nuts with different, though equally harmful reasoning regarding vaccines.
Apparently, allowing your kid to get cancer because of this virus is for a "religious" reason, as if rape and incest doesn't occur.
Who needs rape or incest? You just need a partner who previously slept with someone else already infected. Approximately 80% of people are infected with some strain of the virus during their lifetime. Evidently their "logic" is that they think horny teenagers will be scared off from having sex because of the modest risk of contracting cancer someday in the distant future and that if they provide the vaccine they are somehow condoning having unapproved sex. These are the same morons by and large that think teaching abstinence will somehow be an effective means to convince young people to not have sex.
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.
Yes, I too am not a pussy.
I'm a good cook. I'm a fantastic eater. - Steven Brust
If you fall through that ice layer, you better know how to get - fast :)
Think of it as evolution in action.
I am actually, for real, a German dad reading this on the beach on my iPhone while my 6 and 8 year olds are swimming in the sea.
Which reminds me, where the hell are they?
The dangers of excessive individualism are nothing compared to the oppressiveness of excessive collectivism
I always see this comment from people who've never had kids. "hurr durr why don't you watch your child 24/7/365 for 18 years straight". This is also typically the kind of person that says "helicopter parents are an issue - let your kid get scratched up every once in a while!"
It's almost like raising a human being is difficult and fraught with potential dangers even under the most watchful eye.
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At that point it is already too late before the polar bears and/or killer whales attack. Canada is the like an arctic Australia that way.
You can't be ahead of the curve, if you're stuck in a loop.
Don't pay attention to your offspring, they don't live to spawn.
ELOI, ELOI, LAMA SABACHTHANI!?
Overprotective parents aka helicopter parents is an issue. It is even proven by studies and research.
For instance: 'Helicopter parenting' linked to behavioural problems in children.
Have you not seen those tv series of spoiled children/teenagers trying it out on their own and what happens when they do or those freakout videos of children/teenagers having tamper-tantrums because various stuff that exist on youtube?
Children need to experience the harsh nature of life in small bursts under the supervision of a parent or just a responsible adult. One job of many that parents have is supposed to teach their children to become independent and be able to handle the harsh brutal reality of life.
That includes swimming lessons as early as possible. I was never left alone in the water until my parents were satisfied that I could swim. I was even taught how to rescue people from drowning and what to do when a person had drowned (think it is called "DHLR Heart & Lung Rescue" in English).
The German Lifeguard Association 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.
But, FTFA
Among the drownings have been more than 20 children under the age of 15, and 40 young women and men between the ages of 16 and 25.
So, the VAST majority of the drownings are adults. Only about 6% children. so how are adults being on their phones causing kids to drown? The article makes NO link to cell phone use. Stupid article...
People have lost the ability to shut up. You see less and less people NOT talking on a phone. Even with the threat of a BIG ticket, i can't drive to work without seeing at least one or two people on their phone behind the wheel, not paying attention to the road...
I have no detail or statistics but in our village, we see parents using smartphones while toddlers wander and try to cross road. Car/child accidents are only avoided by careful drivers.
Also inside a cafe children in carry chairs are left in unsecure places (on a table!) while mother uses phone. That incident got a loud repost from onlookers when cot rocked and could have fallen off table.
Smartphone addiction does cause accidents both of children and adults.
Jaywalking problems near here in UK are a common problem of 'head in smartphone' while crossing road.
Adults primary duty is to children not their social life on smartphones.
Regards Eion MacDonald