Swimming pool DISAPPOINTS screen-addicted parents ‘too busy with phones to look after children’ after near-drowning cases soar in Germany

GERMAN swimming pools have started turning out parents who are too distracted and always on the phone with near-fatal drowning cases rising across the country.

A number of public swimming pools under the ownership of Hamburg Bäderland have implemented the tough stance towards screen addicts after labeling some adults “simply ignorant” and unaware of the dangers.

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The new policy allows employees to expel parents and guardians after a verbal warning about turning off the phone and keeping an eye on their children.

It turns out that a worrying increase in the number of young people having to be rescued from the water has been recorded over the last 12 months.

Bäderland spokesman Michael Dietel said: “The problem is getting worse.

“The cell phone is a factor, but there are also other distractions. Some parents are also just plain ignorant.

“In the past, we warned guests three or four times, but now we are less tolerant.

“We have had cases where we save the child, resuscitate them, the ambulance and the emergency doctor are already on site and then at some point the father arrives because he has already finished the call or was elsewhere in the building. ”

The move comes after the Bäderland group already tried to reason with distracted fathers and imperturbable mothers.

Flyers were distributed around the pools asking parents to put away their phones.

Dietel says the measures did little to stop children from being put in danger.

In the last two weeks alone, two six-year-old children were just minutes away from tragic drowning before being saved by lifeguards.

Both were resuscitated in swimming pools in Hamburg, with Mr Dietel telling The times both were caused by distracted parents.

Children are often left wandering around pools alone after not receiving attention from their parents, he added.

This can put them in dangerous positions, such as running off the edges, which can cause them to fall or, even worse, slip into the water.

The spokesperson continued: “We often see children running around the edge of the pool calling for their parents.

“So our lifeguards have to take them by the hand and go look for mom and dad.

“This puts us in a dilemma because it takes us away from general supervision of the pool, which involves paying attention to the elderly swimmer going through his route who could suffer a heart attack.”

Germany has also been plagued by beach-related horrors in recent years for similar reasons.

The German Life Saving Association (DLRG), which monitors more than 100 family beaches in summer, claims to have recorded 1,200 cases in 2023 of missing children.

Their investigation also revealed a worrying number of children under the age of 10 who drowned, with 16 tragic cases discovered last year.

In total, 378 people drowned in Germany in 2023, according to data from the DLRG – compared to just 355 in 2022.

DLRG spokesman Martin Holzhause also placed some of the blame on inattentive guardians and their phone habits.

He said: “This usually happens because parents are not paying attention, and phones have been a big factor in this for years.

“Our lifeguards tell parents to take extra care when reuniting lost children.”

Screen addiction

Screen addiction is a serious problem across the world, with millions of us seemingly glued to our phones, laptops or TVs.

The term is most commonly used to describe someone who is compulsively addicted to their devices to the point that it impairs their daily functioning.

It can often affect productivity, relationships, health and well-being.

It can also lead to some serious health problems.

Answering calls for just 30 minutes a week can increase your chances of developing high blood pressure by 12%, a study from China’s Southern Medical University found.

Four hours a week can increase this danger by 16% and six hours by 25%.

If you find yourself swiping endlessly or can’t help but text and feel pain in your fingers, this could be a condition known as Tinder Finger or Texting Thumb.

This can lead to long-term complications such as tendonitis.

Another issue related to increased screen time is how it can affect your eyes, such as macular degeneration – when the center of the retina, the macula, deteriorates and vision becomes distorted or lost.

Staying glued to the phone increases the risk of obesity, cardiovascular problems and even death by 43%, say researchers in Colombia from Simon Bolívar University.