XIAN, CHINA — A grandfather’s use of a dog cone to curb his granddaughter’s excessive phone use has sparked a debate among online users in China. 

A video showcasing the man’s unconventional solution trended on Chinese microblogging site Weibo after it was posted on Dec 10, amusing some viewers and alarming others.

According to the post by Bailu Video, the unnamed man from the city of Xian had taken his five-year-old granddaughter and her mother on an outing on Dec 7.

From the moment she hopped onto the car, the grandfather observed that the little girl was unable to tear her eyes away from the phone and was engrossed in mobile games throughout the journey.

Realising that he had a brand new dog cone in the car, the man then decided to carefully wrap it around his granddaughter’s neck in an attempt to prevent her from using the device.

“At first, the kid was very resistant because she couldn’t look at the phone and because she knew the cone was meant for dogs. Even though it was new, she was still very opposed to it,” said the girl’s mother, according to South China Morning Post.

Dog cones, otherwise known as Elizabethan collars, are cone-shaped accessories made of plastic or fabric that are usually placed around the head to prevent an animal from licking or chewing at a surgery site, wound, or dressing.

In the viral video, the young girl is seen bitterly holding onto a phone and refusing to step out of the vehicle while wearing a pink plastic cone around her neck.