If you are a Netflix subscriber, the answer is probably yes: 142 million people have watched the Korean-produced show. That makes Squid Game the most popular show in Netflix history, and the first to exceed 100 million views in its first month of airing. The streaming service added 4.4 million subscribers in the third quarter of 2021, and the series is now valued at $900 million. Why is the show so popular?

It is a masterclass on creating a television show modern audiences want to watch: compelling underdog characters, explicit violence, sickening gore and anti-capitalism messaging all wrapped up in the guise of a game show.

Squid Game takes place in South Korea. A motley group of 456 individuals in crippling debt are baited into playing a series of kids’ games to win millions of dollars. The games include red light, green light; tug of war and others. If you lose the game, however, you die a gruesome death. The players live in a sort of detention camp, where each day they must play the games and watch their fellow players get shot in the head, disemboweled and lose limbs.

The dystopian show has an anti-capitalist message, making a capitalist society look so bleak and difficult to succeed in that it is better to face gruesome death in a game than to persevere and function in society. One of the characters is an escapee from North Korea and hopes to win the money to save her family. At one point in the show, the character infers that her life was better in North Korea than in a free society. Squid Game also depicts the top hierarchy of those responsible for the games as white males, probably Americans, who bet on who will survive each round of gruesome activities.

The show has a tv-ma rating, meaning it should only be viewed if you are 16 years and older. However, there are reports from all over the world that children are reenacting Squid Game on playgrounds during recess. Beth Ann Mayer wrote at Parents.com:

In Belgium, one school reported some kids beat their classmates up after eliminating them. An online safety expert in Belfast in Northern Ireland alerted parents to the need to turn parental controls on after learning reports that school-age students were mimicking the show’s violence. A Florida school district warned parents about students trying to hurt each other while replicating scenes from the show at school. And a New York school district, where elementary school kids have been reenacting the show’s games at recess, has banned the students from wearing Squid Game Halloween attire “because of the potential violent messages aligned with the costume.”

Elementary school children have accessed the show, or scenes of the show, through TikTok, YouTube, their parents’ Netflix accounts, at friends’ houses, or through their smartphones. I heard a local radio host comment that they do not know what their kids watch on Netflix because they use it to babysit the kids when they are busy. One parent remarked to the Wall Street Journal that it is a “losing battle” trying to stop children from accessing the show.

The violent and addictive nature of the show can have dangerous effects on children. Damon Korb, behavioral and developmental pediatrician, warned that the show’s violent images “have the potential to desensitize people to violence. Children are particularly vulnerable.”

Mayer quoted Dr. Rebecca Cowan in her article, writing: “Squid Game has repetitive extreme violence throughout, and other shows might just have one or two scenes. Repetitive violence has been shown to lead to increased violence and aggression in children. Additionally, this content can be traumatic for some to watch, leading to increased anxiety.” Children have been exposed to violence via television, movies, music and video games for decades. But it has never been easier for children to access them.

Squid Game has exposed the dangerous lack of parental control and the prolific smartphone usage in our children’s lives.

The Guardian reported that 90 percent of children in the United Kingdom own a smartphone by age 11. Thirty-nine percent of the children surveyed said they could not live without their phone. npr reported a study showing 53 percent of United States children have a smartphone by age 11. The same report showed teens spending seven hours a day on their phones, with video-watching averaging around three hours per day.

A Pew Research Survey highlighted that 71 percent of parents with an 11-year-old or younger are concerned their child has too much screentime. Only 39 percent of the parents surveyed were “very confident” that they knew how much time their child spent on a device.

Do you know how much time your children spend on their device? Do you know if they watch Squid Game?

Our society recognizes that children should not be consuming such violent media (and for the record, neither should adults). Yet nothing is done to stop such filth from being easily consumed by our young people. One of the root causes is parents have abdicated all authority and responsibility over their children. Our book Child Rearing With Vision states:

For decades, an increasing number of news reports have revealed that our elementary- and middle school-aged children are in serious trouble. … Who or what is to blame for this horrendous crisis?

We could point the finger at many things: our failing school systems, perverse music and entertainment, drug pushers, pornography, violent video games or other modern maladies. But the stark truth is that the main cause for troubled children is troubled parents. Parental neglect is a root cause of children’s problems today.

Too many parents are so self-absorbed and caught up in their own personal crises that they can’t focus on the proper rearing of children.

To save our children, parents must take on their God-given responsibility to nurture, love, lead, teach and discipline their children.

Children’s imaginations being filled with images of murder and children becoming addicted to smartphones are all side effects of the decisions made by parents. God prophesied in Isaiah 3:4 that children would rule our society in these last days. The Apostle Paul warned that we would be “without natural affection” (2 Timothy 3:3-4). If parents are addicted to smartphones and violent Netflix shows, then their children will be also. All of this flows from Satan the devil. He is “the prince of the power of the air” who actively seeks to undermine family (Ephesians 2:2). (Please read our booklet Conspiracy Against Fatherhood to learn more.)

But there is a way to save our children. If you are concerned about your children’s screen use, please read an excerpt from the Child Rearing With Vision book, “Seven Steps to Protect Your Child From the Misuse of Technology.”

The Bible reveals how to have an abundant, dynamic, joy-filled family life that can be free from all the troubles in our world. It is not the easy path, but it is the only path that gives our children a bright future. To learn more, please read Child Rearing With Vision.