Swedish pools ban parents' smartphones

[Deleted]

http://www.thelocal.se/20151103/swed...ng-smartphones

A rising number of public swimming pools across Sweden are launching blanket bans on smartphones and tablets in a bid to make inattentive parents help protect their children from drowning accidents.

Around 1,500 children have to be taken to hospital every year after accidents at swimming pools. Meanwhile, one in ten fatal child drownings in Sweden takes place at a water park, according to the Swedish Life Saving Society.

The public swimming pool in Umeå caused a splash last week when it issued a complete ban on smartphones, tablets and e-readers in its building, accusing the tech-loving Swedes of spending too much time hooked up to social media and not enough keeping an eye on their children.

"It's mostly for security. We don't anybody to drown," council official Patrik Samuelsson told the TT newswire at the time.

On Tuesday, several other pools across the Nordic country followed suit. Anne Asterhäll, head of Holjebadet in Olofström in southern Sweden, said she often found parents accompanying their children to swimming classes with their nose pressed to their screens.

"In many cases it's about accidents that happen in a second, like children slipping and hitting their heads, and you can't prevent that. (...) But because it's about security we still want to urge parents to direct their attention towards their child," she told Sveriges Radio.

And in Jönköping, in central parts of southern Sweden, the head of the council's culture and leisure department, Karin Semberg, told public broadcaster SVT his staff were also mulling introducing a ban by the end of 2015.

"A ban is always a shame, but the children are the dearest thing we have. (…) Sure, you can lose focus [reading a book] as well, but as our social media presence increases and you have to be constantly updated – it could result in an unhappy ending," she said.

Swedes are some of the most frequent mobile phone users in Europe with three quarters of the whole population having access to a smartphone, according to recent research by Gothenburg University.

Meanwhile, a total of 11 children have so far died in drowning accidents in the first ten months of 2015, according to The Swedish Life Saving Society. The group welcomes the swimming pools' moves to get Swedish mums and dads to log off and spend more time away from their smartphones.

"If a screen ban helps parents spend more time with their chidren we think it's great," the association's security expert Anders Wernesten told TT.

Thoughts on this? Could this help reduce accidents?

[Reeve]

I thought it might be about pervy photos, but not about drownings. Don't your public pools have lifeguards?

[Deleted]

I thought it might be about pervy photos, but not about drownings. Don't your public pools have lifeguards?

Been quite some time since I was at one and from what I remember, there wasn't exactly many, like 2 or 3 that I saw, for a pretty big place.

[Dextroden]

I get the feeling those parents they are concerned about will just find something new to distract them.

[breadisfunny]

good. tablets and smartphones are in need of some control.

[Aori]

I thought it might be about pervy photos, but not about drownings. Don't your public pools have lifeguards?

That is what I came here expecting.

Seriously though lifeguards? Every public pool I've been too requires a lifeguard to even get in the water. Accidents happen, nothing will prevent those but preventing drownings are the duty of a lifeguard.

[Puupi]

This is stupid......

A ban? I mean, they can suggest parents stop fiddling their electronics and pay more attention to their children, but ban?

Also, every public pool should have a lifeguard.

[George Costanza]

We should bann cellphones in the "Grundskola"

[Hey There Guys its Metro]

Swedish pools ban visitors.

Honestly, if I didn't have my phone while watching the kids I don't what I would do.
Obviously you pay attention as well, but there is absolutely no reason to be "banning" this.
That's what you pay life guards for.

[Deleted]

Why not hire lifeguards? And when a child is neglected by its parents due to social media being more important then you report that to child services for further investigation. But a ban? Nah.

[breadisfunny]

Swedish pools ban visitors.

Honestly, if I didn't have my phone while watching the kids I don't what I would do.
Obviously you pay attention as well, but there is absolutely no reason to be "banning" this.
That's what you pay life guards for.

it's called not being a shitty parent.

[Deleted]

it's called not being a shitty parent.

You can't helicopter parent the child constantly. It'll grow weak and kill itself when it enters puberty. Sometimes you gotta let them survive on their own for a couple minutes every day. It's character building, y'know.

[Deleted]

well a pool where I'm not allowed to bring my smartphone is a pool I'm not going to visit

[breadisfunny]

You can't helicopter parent the child constantly. It'll grow weak and kill itself when it enters puberty. Sometimes you gotta let them survive on their own for a couple minutes every day. It's character building, y'know.

yep because making sure your child doesn't drown is helicopter parenting. just let him drown in the pool. brilliant parenting right there.
oh wait maybe it's because they are still learning to swim in some cases.

[Deleted]

yep because making sure your child doesn't drown is helicopter parenting. just let him drown in the pool. brilliant parenting right there.
oh wait maybe it's because they are still learning to swim in some cases.

Clearly you pay more attention to the kid if it's in a potentially dangerous situation. But you made it sound like you're a shitty parent if you're not constantly watching the kid 24/7 regardless of what they're doing.

[theostrichsays]

Idk what people in Sweden are like in general, but if it is anything like a small town I used to live in, that recently reopened their public swimming pool (or at least this past summer for the first time in years) I don't see it as a bad thing. Tons of kids 10 and under running around unsupervised being little shits and nearly getting hurt by slipping, running into each other, trying to go crowd diving boards.
Parents, just brain dead on their phones.

[Bakis]

I think it would be common sense to keep an eye on your kid around water even if there are lifeguards present.
Those live sportsupdates or Instagram peeps cant be that important. Well sadly it seems they are, I dont object to this ban proposal.

[Ayla]

That is what I came here expecting.

Seriously though lifeguards? Every public pool I've been too requires a lifeguard to even get in the water. Accidents happen, nothing will prevent those but preventing drownings are the duty of a lifeguard.

Most people wouldnt know drowning if they saw it, this solves nothing. You need a trained eye to spot a kid drowning

[Puupi]

Most people wouldnt know drowning if they saw it, this solves nothing. You need a trained eye to spot a kid drowning

Yep. It's easy to spot drowned people, but that's a bit too late. It's a lot harder to spot a drowning person.

[Elim Garak]

What a silly attempt at fighting natural selection. It's official Sweden is against nature and completely clueless.