Drowning Doesn’t Look Like Drowning
slate.com
Drowning is not the violent, splashing call for help that most people expect.

web.archive.org (no paywall)

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Every summer I repost this article on how to spot drowning. Please read it and pass on. In the last few years I’ve had SIX messages from people who saved a kid’s life after clicking on the link from my feed.

  • Someone8765210932@lemmy.world
    2·
    32 minutes ago

    of the approximately 750 children who will drown next year, about 375 of them will do so within 25 yards of a parent or other adult

    These kinds of statistic are harrowing, if you think about them a bit longer. Hundreds of children will fight for their lives only meters away from their parents trying to get their attention, and die.

  • Wren@lemmy.todayEnglish
    3·
    6 hours ago

    Great share. I’ve taken different levels of first aid multiple times, including one where we had to watch real clinical death so we knew not to stop CPR when it looked like someone was “waking up.” Death doesn’t look like death either.

  • Atomic@sh.itjust.works
    43·
    15 hours ago

    Drowning 100% looks like drowning. The problem is that people dont know what drowning looks like. Including myself.

  • AFK BRB Chocolate (CA version)@lemmy.ca
    93·
    21 hours ago

    Many years ago we were having a pool party. My wife and our adult niece were standing on the steps of the pool, so I walked over to say hi. Looked down and there was our niece’s toddler daughter standing on the lower step, head totally submerged, just looking up at me through the water. Words wouldn’t even come out - I just reached in, grabbed her arm, and pulled her up out of the water. When I started to reach between them, my wife and niece looked at me like I was being a jerk or something, then both got wide-eyed when they saw the girl come up out of the water. She had been standing on the same step as them, but accidentally stepped off to the lower and they didn’t notice. Terrifying.

        • FarraigePlaisteach@piefed.socialEnglish
          18·
          20 hours ago

          I’m relieved to hear that. I’m thinking back about the times where I might have missed something like that. Not a comfortable thought. Thanks for the reply!

          • Apytele@sh.itjust.works
            3·
            14 hours ago

            Some people have more or less. I happen to have a LOT of it, at least in the context I work (inpatient psychiatry, violence deescalation). I’ve also noticed it occasionally happen at other times like one time my foot had the brake pedal flat on the floor for a full half second before I was able to consciously recognize the deer eyes on the side of the road. Sometimes the feeling just hits and I have to trust it or else.

            From seeing which of my coworkers have or don’t have it here’s some observations. It’s partially innate / genetic, but very much affected by especially childhood environment (but other significant life experiences can sometimes strengthen it, few things actually weaken it but trauma can certainly make it more erratic). Overall, the kids who had to learn to hide for whatever reason as a kid have the strongest sense of it.

            That said, the one important thing you can do to strengthen and more importantly tune that sense is to think about it and think about why you got that feeling. Even if you’re out of the immediate situation walk it back in your head. When you visualize it can you (mentally) point to a physical spot on the person or thing? You might realize you saw their fists clench or that you didn’t like their facial expression or that you saw them glance at the knife block. Was there a specific point in time you felt your adrenaline spike? Was everything fine but you got nervous when they mentioned going to a party? And the last question I like to ask is what was the worst case scenario you were picturing? When they talked about going to the party did you suddenly think about them drinking again?

            Even if that moment seemed like a huge overreaction from your brain (and maybe it was!) but the human brain is a very powerful prediction engine and even if it was ultimately an overreaction / catastrophizing it’s worth examining what caused your brain to have a reaction at all because even if maybe it wasn’t worth all that maybe it’s still something you should still act on just in a more controlled manner.

            • FarraigePlaisteach@piefed.socialEnglish
              2·
              8 hours ago

              Very interesting and credible. I recognise the hypervigilance part, and it sounds like there’s some practice/training as well as “instinct” in there too.

  • ollie the otter ~ 🦦 (they/them)@pawb.socialEnglish
    115·
    23 hours ago

    I can confirm this - I have nearly drowned a few times, and it felt like I couldn’t move. The natural reactions just took over me, and to be honest felt quite counterproductive. Until I was helped, I felt completely frozen, only moved by the water, until someone helped me, it was terrifying.

    One of the worst parts was because I had got water in my lungs, even as I was helped above the water, I tried to breathe, but I simply couldnt. I thought I was going to die and I couldnt communicate it because, like the article says, breathing first, speaking second. It took what felt like multiple minutes but was probably like 10-20 seconds before I could actually breathe.

    I’m very grateful for those who have saved me, and I clearly haven’t learned my lesson because I still love being in water :P

    • socsa@piefed.socialEnglish
      1·
      49 minutes ago

      I watched a kid nearly drown in waist deep water. To this day I have no idea what happened, but it looked like he was floating, then flopping around playfully, then going back to floating. I was standing on the shore just getting my feet wet (this was a “beach” outside Toronto) and I was just kind of watching him because his behavior seemed off somehow. After one of his “flops” he started a face down float, which he’s done a few times, but this time it kept going.

      I had been counting in my head without even realizing it and we were up to about 60s when I started looking around. Had anyone else noticed? His mom came over and started calling to him. Ok, she’s in control. Another 30s pass and his mother is getting panicked. Fuck, I’m fully clothed, an hour from home, should I dive in? Something is definitely wrong. Someone do something… I turn around and start yelling as well.

      Finally someone drags him, limp, from barely 3 feet of water. WTF. People are giving him CPR and I check his pulse between breaths… Fuck. I can’t find a pulse. Then he rockets a half gallon of water from his lungs and sits up. Finally some lifeguards show up.

      I’d completely froze in the moment. I sensed something was off and didn’t do anything. Thank God the kid survived, but I think about it way too much…

    • Fleppensteyn@sh.itjust.works
      5·
      12 hours ago

      Happened to me twice. Both times due to cold shock and I couldn’t move. For some reason people like to lie about water temperature, “jump in, it’s not too cold”

    • Aussiemandeus@aussie.zone
      9·
      16 hours ago

      A Username like that and still drowning that’s impressive mate,

      I can’t swim very well so I just stay out haha

    • towerful@programming.dev
      19·
      21 hours ago

      Yeh, it’s an http site. So any browsers that require https will block/warn.

      But also, holy hell is it obvious once you realise.
      Arms up, then swipe down out to the sides, and repeat. Like frantically trying to fly.
      As SOON as they are in trouble, it’s arms flailing in that pattern. Like, look for white splashing water and assess if it’s playing or panic.

      A few you can tell who it is gonna be because they flip off their donut. And a few you can tell cause they are trying to swim but are looking up and aren’t keeping their mouth above the water (I clicked on one of these to be told “it’s fine” only for them to start thrashing and get rescued when I resumed the video)

    • mozingo@lemmy.worldEnglish
      5·
      21 hours ago

      Your link is automatically converting to https on my phone which for some reason doesn’t work.

      • Otter@lemmy.ca
        4·
        21 hours ago

        Odd, its a pretty old website so maybe something broke. Looks like they have issues with their certificate or something

        When I manually edit it to https, I needed to accept the risk to see it

  • superweeniehutjrs@lemmy.world
    53·
    23 hours ago

    When I was a kid at some church event at a local kids camp I noticed a kid that jumped from the (very low) diving board wasn’t coming up. I had no idea what drowning actually liked like. I yelled to the lifeguard but jumped in anyway. The lifeguard saved the kid before I got over, but a chaperone noticed and sent a letter home to my parents saying they should be proud. I learned that day that cartoons aren’t so real

  • scarabic@lemmy.worldEnglish
    21·
    21 hours ago

    Wonderful article. A long anecdote to introduce the topic and then a paywall before you reach the useful information of what the fuck drowning DOES look like.