Digital Discourse Database

Number of Posts: 8
Posts 1 - 8

The Rise and Fall of Yik Yak, the Anonymous Messaging App

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Newspaper | The New York Times
Date | 27.5.2017
Language | English
Country | U.S.
Topic Tags | childhood, cyberbullying, law, privacy, social media, threat, youth
Summary | The anonymous messaging app Yik Yak became very popular in colleges and schools because it lets people broadcast anonymously to other users near them. The activity on the app has however started to become thretening with college students and children bullying each other and people making bomb threats that have led to multiple evacuations. A feminist group from University of Mary Washington have filed complaint to the University to block Yik Yak on campus because it has been used to harrass and threaten members.
Image Description | An illustration with a face and a smartphone and an image of the creators of Yik Yak.
Image Tags | male(s), smartphone

5 Ways Parents Can Help Prevent Cyberbullying

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Newspaper | Huffington Post
Date | 11.4.2017
Language | English
Country | U.S.
Topic Tags | childhood, cyberbullying, social media, threat, youth
Summary | Cyberbullying, i.e. when people are bullied textually or with images over a digital platform, can be detrimental to teenagers' psyche. Especially since they are always available for notifications on their smartphones and because these digital tracks never disappear. It is important that parents keep an open line of communication with their children about this issue.
Image Description | Image of two girls holding a smartphone and looking shocked.
Image Tags | female(s), smartphone

10 Tips For Keeping Your Kids Safe Online

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Newspaper | Huffington Post
Date | 13.3.2017
Language | English
Country | U.S.
Topic Tags | childhood, smartphone, Snapchat, threat, youth
Summary | Parents should keep an open line of communication with their children about the internet and its dangers. Since the parents pay the bills it is fair that they can decide on such things as screen time etc. but it can be good to negotiate such details with the children. It is important to teach children and youths about their digital footprint - even on Snapchat.
Image Description | Getty image of a girl using a laptop.
Image Tags | computer/laptop, female(s)

See how 'A Christmas Carol' and other classics are being translated into emoji

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Newspaper | Los Angeles Times
Date | 14.12.2016
Language | English
Country | U.S.
Topic Tags | childhood, emojis, translation
Summary | A woman is translating various children's literature into emojis. Not the whole text is replaced by emojis, only some words or parts of words. The books are supposed to be really great for beginning readers to encourage reading since the texts are made easier to understand by using a range of emojis. Not only the regular emojis available on all smartphones are used but also roughly 600 original emojis created by the author.
Image Description | A passage from the emoji-enhanced version of "A Christmas Carol".
Image Tags | emojis, text

Should You Spy on Your Kids?

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Newspaper | The New York Times
Date | 9.11.2016
Language | English
Country | U.S.
Topic Tags | childhood, privacy, research/study, threat
Summary | Many parents now monitor their children's online and social media activity, regulate their internet access (or even texting abilities) through the night and school hours using sophisticated technology, a few even observe the movements of their children or partners by tracking their devices. While tracking each other's devices in a relationship can be useful to avoid texting while driving, such technology can also be exploited and result in an emotionally abusive relationship. This is especially risky when the monitoring is not mutual like when parents 'stalk' their children, danah boys says. It is impossible for children to learn media competency when they are constantly under surveillance, they become less reluctant to share social media passwords with their peers and can otherwise remain naïve when it comes to online safety because they have been shielded from everything growing up.
Image Description | A series of minimalistic illustrations of a woman with a smartphone leaving a trail (dotted line).
Image Tags | female(s), smartphone

Mattel's Aristotle is like an Amazon Echo for kids

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Newspaper | USA Today
Date | 3.1.2017
Language | English
Country | U.S.
Topic Tags | artificial intelligence, childhood, digitized education, privacy
Summary | A new baby monitor by Mattel is enhanced with various affordances we know from chatbots: the monitor starts a lullaby when the baby wakes up or plays with older children, teaching them colors by asking them to name what color light they see or learning a new language and so on. The monitor called Aristotle reports all these things to the parents by means of smartphone notifications and also gives them suggestions on where to stock up on diapers. The developers are emphasize their high standards for child privacy security.
Image Description | Video about CES 2017 conference in Las Vegas.

Dumbing Down the Phone for Children

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Newspaper | The New York Times
Date | 12.12.2015
Language | English
Country | U.S.
Topic Tags | childhood, smartphone, threat, youth
Summary | Parents all face the problem of their children wishing for smartphones for christmas at some point. Often, parents feel that point arrives too early. There are some possibilities to ease children into new media use, by getting a "dumbphone" for instance which has no internet access. Even smartphones have settings for parental control where curfews can be set when the child/teenager is supposed to sleep and not be able to use the smartphone or to block social media or in-app purchases. It is irresponsible to give young children/teenagers full use of a smartphone but one should give them access to the digital sphere in steps, just as one does not start teaching a child how to cook by handing it all the sharp knives.
Image Description | Photograph of a family in front of christmas tree gathered around a smartphone.
Image Tags | female(s), male(s), smartphone

Why Handwriting Is Still Important

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Newspaper | The New York Times
Date | 31.8.2016
Language | English
Country | U.S.
Topic Tags | childhood, texting, word/writing
Summary | People are outraged after a journalist claims that handwriting is becoming a useless skill. Opponents are referencing instances where writing is unavoidable, such as signing a legal document, or is more appropriate, such as writing love letters or letters of condolence. Learning to write longhand is also very important for children to develop various skills.
Image Description | Black and white staged photograph from Getty: hand holding a pen and writing on a piece of paper.
Image Tags | hand(s)

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