Digital Discourse Database

Number of Posts: 7
Posts 1 - 7

Das eigene Verhalten überdenken

(Reflect one’s own behavior)

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Newspaper | St. Galler Tagblatt
Date | 17.2.2016
Language | German
Country | Switzerland
Topic Tags | school, technology-free, texting, WhatsApp, youth
Summary | A Sunday school teacher reports that more and more younger people give up part of their multi-media consumption for lent instead of food. Many will for instance give up their use of WhatsApp, text messaging, or video games rather than food. This shows that youths think very critically about their consumption habits.
Image Description | N/A

Schulen verbieten Handys – sogar während Pausen

(Schools prohibit mobile phones – even during recess)

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Newspaper | 20 Minuten
Date | 11.9.2016
Language | German
Country | Switzerland
Topic Tags | digitized education, school, smartphone, technology-free
Summary | Several Swiss schools are prohibiting smartphone use at school, even outside of classes. Apparently, teachers think that students are no longer interacting with one another. This ban clearly clashes with the Swiss German curriculum reform “Lehrplan 21” which plans to occasionally introduce smartphone use in the classroom for school assignments. It does not make sense for a few schools to refuse to acknowledge what is now a reality, namely that people now frequently use their smartphones to communicate rather than talking face-to-face.
Image Description | Series of four photographs: group of teenagers sitting together and using their smartphone, and three portraits of male interviewees.
Image Tags | female(s), male(s), smartphone

Des camps de désintox pour pour accros au smartphone

(Rehab camps for smartphone addicts)

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Newspaper | 24 heures
Date | 12.3.2016
Language | French
Country | Switzerland
Topic Tags | addiction, brain, childhood, smartphone, technology-free, youth
Summary | South Korea is one of the most digitally connected countries. As a consequence, 1 out of 10 children is addicted to internet and other digital devices. Rehab camps for young internet addicts is supposed to help children live without digital devices. In those camps, children go hiking, play guitar, and read paper books. Rehab can be tough; it is almost the same process as for alcoholics or drug addicts. At the end of the camp, those young people know how to appreciate real life and have to find out what the causes of their escape to the virtual world are.
Image Description | Photograph of young people in South Korea playing video games in a room full of computers.
Image Tags | computer/laptop, game, male(s)

Un festival bannit les téléphones portables

(A festival banned cell phones)

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Newspaper | 20 minutes
Date | 27.5.2016
Language | French
Country | Switzerland
Topic Tags | addiction, smartphone, technology-free, youth
Summary | A small festival in Zug decided to ban cell phones so that people can enjoy the festival and live the "present". Smartphones are useful, but it is annoying when people spend most of their time on them. This new rule is a good marketing strategy; it allows the festival to be noticed. However, the restriction couldn't be applied to other big festival such as Paleo Festival or Montreux Jazz Festival.
Image Description | Series of four photographs portraying young people and shots of the festival layout.
Image Tags | female(s), male(s), smartphone

Des écoles banissent le portable des préaux

(Schools prohibit cell phones on their playgrounds)

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Newspaper | 20 minutes
Date | 12.9.2016
Language | French
Country | Switzerland
Topic Tags | school, smartphone, technology-free, threat, youth
Summary | Several schools in Switzerland have prohibited the use of smartphones during recess. Students do not learn as well as before, and interactions in the classrooms are not as good. Other people don't agree with this new rule. Schools need to accept the fact that everyone owns a smartphone nowadays. People communicate, which is a huge advantage of smartphones. Also, students should be able to be "free" during recess. They might want to be alone, and this is okay. Finally, a school principal thinks that prohibiting smartphones during recess is better for students; smartphones hinder the development of intercommunication.
Image Description | Photograph of a group of young male teenagers smiling and looking at their smartphones.
Image Tags | male(s), smartphone

Gemeinsam einsam: Wir können das Rad nicht zurückdrehen

(Together alone: We can’t turn the clock back)

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Newspaper | Beobachter
Date | 1.4.2016
Language | German
Country | Switzerland
Topic Tags | addiction, brain, smartphone, technology-free
Summary | ETH Neuroscientist Arko Ghosh has found out that smartphone use increases the size of the sensory/motoric front cortex of the brain. While many news media have reported his findings, few deeply engaged with his study. They rather just wanted to know from him whether that meant that smartphones were good or bad for the brain. One hotel in the Bernese Alps even advertises their location as particularly attractive because there is no cell phone reception or internet connection. Multiple apps to keep track of one’s smartphone use already exist.
Image Description | A group of four young people are staring at their phones.
Image Tags | female(s), male(s), smartphone

Der Mann zieht seine Nummer ab

(A man takes off his number)

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Newspaper | Sonntagszeitung
Date | 14.8.2016
Language | German
Country | Switzerland
Topic Tags | (mental) health, addiction, research/study, smartphone, technology-free
Summary | A 29-year old man has decided to live without a cell phone because it causes anxiety and is not as necessary as everybody thinks. Recent studies have shown that many smartphone users can effectively be labeled as addicts because they check their phones more than 60 times a day. This obsession, paired with the fact that push notifications effect the release of dopamine, confirm the claim that smartphones increase anxiety.
Image Description | Photograph of the 29-year old man, crouching.
Image Tags | male(s)

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