Child drownings in Germany linked to parents' phone ‘fixation’

The Guardian

Kate Connolly in Berlin

 

Lifeguards warn parents to put phones away, after more than 300 people drowned this year

 

German lifeguards have issued a warning that a growing number of child drownings this summer are linked to their parents’ obsession with mobile phones.

 

More than 300 people have drowned in Germany this year, with hardly a day passing during the current heatwave when a swimmer has not died.

 

The German Lifeguard Association (DLRG) – the biggest organisation of its kind in the world, providing 40,000 volunteer lifeguards at German beaches, lakes and the coast – has made a direct connection between children getting into difficulty in the water and parents being too busy on their mobile phones to notice.

 

Full story: https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2018/aug/15/parents-fixated-by-phones-linked-to-child-drownings-in-germany

 

-- The Guardian 2018-2018-08-16

I must be really old because I really cannot understand this obsession with constantly having your face in your phone.

3 hours ago, DoctorG said:

I must be really old because I really cannot understand this obsession with constantly having your face in your phone.

then u old or not go anywhere  all people ar in phones last week at airport a coffie over me she said nothing face in her phone   

Take a break from the phone, there should be a warning popping up on your screen , or automatic shutdown. Maybe the humans will learn from their mistakes 50 years from now.

They need a "smarten up alarm" on the things, but many/most would be too stupid to use it.

8 minutes ago, mikecha said:

then u old or not go anywhere  all people ar in phones last week at airport a coffie over me she said nothing face in her phone   

I think what Docto rG was referring to is the stupidity of letting ones phone take over their life.

 

3 hours ago, DoctorG said:

I must be really old because I really cannot understand this obsession with constantly having your face in your phone.

Doctor G ,Remember that the theory is "The lower the IQ in a brain ,The easier it is to hypnotize".

perhaps as was said in JAWS  " we gonna need a bigger boat organisation "

22 hours ago, DoctorG said:

I must be really old because I really cannot understand this obsession with constantly having your face in your phone.

Same here. I still use a flip phone. Never needed a phone to show me how to get across the street or wipe my a**.

4 hours ago, FarmerJoe said:

Same here. I still use a flip phone. Never needed a phone to show me how to get across the street or wipe my a**.

 

It's the communication of the younger generation .

 

You now need to tell your friends you're having a lunch , you're walking to the market , and you need to take a picture of it and send it asap , or you need to video it live on facebook-  Look at me , I am here , where are you ?  And then you're friend swill do the same .  Even some guys over 50 do this , would you believe it.  

 

I think they are called  the Me Me Me Me generation . Look at me me me me me !! 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Don't blame the technology.  Flash back to 1960, when children were drowning at the beach because parents had their noses buried in a newspaper.  

 

Imagine the reaction of your spouse when you tell him/her that your kids died by drowning while you were playing a game on the phone. Then your friends and neighbours find out. Devastated would hardly cover the aftermath.