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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...
Hardly. The German statistics are not really much different from neighbouring countries where swimming lessons are still mandatory. Actually last year the Netherlands drowning deathtoll was higher.
Also worth noting is that drownings have been trending down for many years but his year was an outlier. Possibly something to do with also record setting warm days.