Father trying to limit kids' screentime accidentally shuts down entire town's internet

Children spend too much time on phones, laptops and other digital devices these days. Parents and guardians come up with innovative ideas and tricks to limit the unhealthy screen time of their children.

Some use passwords and locking mechanisms on devices while others find alternative means to keep their children engaged. Sometimes, things don’t work out as planned for parents.

One father’s desperate bid to get his children offline resulted in a major internet outage for an entire town in France.

According to reports, the unnamed person accidentally shut down the entire internet network of a town in an effort to limit his children’s screen time. He might be slapped with a huge fine and may even face jail time.

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He reportedly used a signal jammer to stop his kids from going online late at night. The plan worked out well for him, but it ended up blocking the entire town’s internet from midnight to 3am.

A mobile phone user complained to the Agence Nationale des Fréquences (ANFR), responsible for managing radio frequencies in the country, about a strange signal drop.

Later, the agency found that a signal jammer was blocking the internet by transmitting radio waves at the same frequency as mobile phones.

It revealed that a jammer was being used by the father to prevent his kids from accessing the internet.

“His children had indeed become addicted to social networks and other applications since the confinement imposed due to the Covid-19 epidemic,” it added.

The use of signal jammers is illegal in France and anyone found using them may be slapped with a fine of a €30,000 or face up to six months in jail.