The pandemic has caused families to stay home. Kids and parents alike have shited to homeschooling or working from home.
More often than not, kids spend their time on electronics. For some parents, this practice sounds alarming, but for others, it could be a way for children to cope with the sudden change in their environment.
Some parents are loosening up with screentime rules.
Brian Wells, a father who seemed to notice that his kids are spending too much time on electronics, took on Tiktok his take on this matter.
On April 22, Wells uploaded a series of videos showing him smashing the electronics of his children.
The controversial video
Wells, in the first video, said to his kids that he is sick of them never doing the chores in the house. He said that it was the reason he was getting rid of all of the kids' electronics. Wells then started whacking the electronics like iPhones and an iPad with a hammer. In the video, his kids were heard shouting, "No dad!" in the background.
The second round of the videos showed Wells coming into the room with a baseball bat. He bashed the television and the joysticks using the bat and said, "You're going to buy yourself a new TV by doing chores."
Before being taken down, the videos were viewed more than seven million times.
Parents Reactions
On Twitter, parents reacted to the video in different ways.
According to one Twitter user, the way the kids were punished was hateful. Another user said that this can be traumatizing to children and that this could teach them that the solution to anger is a bat. The Twitter user even said that it is alarming to see the kids flinch when Wells was near them.
Other parents think that breaking the belongings of kids is a form of abuse and that those who agree with this form of punishment is disgusting.
The video is a joke
After receiving backlash from the video, Brian Wells revealed in another TikTok video that these were all a hoax. He said that the videos were staged. The devices and toys were already of no use and are broken. He even shared that those toys are no longer usable. The family was planning to replace these items, so viewers need not worry.
Wells also said that he was not punishing his kids, and he is not mean, like what viewers commented.
His caption to the video, "My videos are fake, and I never curse at my kids or harm them they had all [their] faces covered to hide the laugh except for my daughter [sic]."
Some Twitter users saw this coming and knew from the beginning that the videos were fake. One person said that Wells seemed to be a great dad.
Aside from the video where Wells explained the prank, he also posted a video showing his kids happily playing on a huge TV with their game consoles.
Wells' TikTok account has since been deleted.
