Digital Discourse Database

Number of Posts: 6
Posts 1 - 6

Rise of the defrienders: Nine in ten young people have been 'ghosted' by their friend or partner

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Newspaper | Mirror
Date | 6.5.2016
Language | English
Country | UK
Topic Tags | smartphone, social media, texting, youth
Summary | “Ghosting” or defriending someone by text or social media is a new phenomenon. It seems that young people prefer using their smartphones and laptops to end relationships instead of doing it face-to-face. The term "ghosting" came from Katy Perry's song "Ghost" where she talks about ex-husband Russell Brand who had not spoken to her after demanding a divorce via text. Thanks to social media and the fact that you can hide behind your phone it is now easier to defriend people by ghosting.
Image Description | Photographs of two hands holding a smartphone, Russell Brand and Katy Perry, a man using his phone and looking at it, a hand holding a smartphone displaying the Facebook icon.
Image Tags | Facebook, female(s), hand(s), male(s), smartphone

New ideas for treating concussions

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Newspaper | Washington Post
Date | 12.4.2016
Language | English
Country | U.S.
Topic Tags | (mental) health, smartphone, texting
Summary | Doctors are looking into new ways to treat concussions and one of those ways is to stop texting or using a smartphone. Concussion-related headaches are often visually triggered so staring at a screen for hours like many people routinely do does not help heal from a concussion.
Image Description | Hands of a woman placing a football helmet on a boy's head.
Image Tags | female(s), hand(s), male(s)

Hohe Ablenkung durch Handy am Steuer

(High distraction because of cell phone while driving)

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Newspaper | Norddeutscher Rundfunk
Date | 11.4.2016
Language | German
Country | Germany
Topic Tags | law, smartphone, texting, threat
Summary | Many people text while driving and do not realize how dangerous it is - more dangerous than talking on the phone. The statistics calculated by the German police are not complete they assume that 10% of car accidents is caused by cell phone distraction of a driver. They advocate for a raising of the fines, they are too low now so that people are willing to risk a fine.
Image Description | Image of a woman holding a smartphone while behind the wheel, a totaled car and a portrait of the interviewee (police officer).
Image Tags | female(s), hand(s), male(s), smartphone

La letra, con ‘smartphone’, entra

(The letter enters with smartphone (pun with "la letra con sangre entra"))

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Newspaper | El País
Date | 27.10.2014
Language | Spanish
Country | Spain
Topic Tags | grammar, research/study, social media, spelling, texting, threat, youth
Summary | Spelling and grammar are having a hard time in today's society; there seems to be too much lenience with regards to writing rules, which may be due to an incorrect use of new technologies. People should know when it is appropriate to use a specific register. It is okay to write a text message with abbreviations as long as users are able to change register and adapt their writing in an exam for example. A professor in Valladolid claims that handwriting as opposed to digital writing can be the solution to spelling and grammar mistakes. Social media and the way we write on those networks have a major impact on our writing skills. A study showed that the mistakes young people make in their writing assignments come from our habit to constantly write quickly and be spontaneous on social media. Those mistakes are mostly due to a lack of attention. The study also showed a positive aspect: with social media, we write more.
Image Description | Photograph of a group of four young people using their smartphone.
Image Tags | female(s), hand(s), male(s), smartphone

No imprta q este scrito asi

(It doesnt matter how its written)

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Newspaper | El País
Date | 19.3.2014
Language | Spanish
Country | Spain
Topic Tags | abbreviations, language threat, spelling, texting, youth
Summary | A study in France demonstrated that text message characteristics have no impact on spelling skills. If you child texts using a lot of emoticons to replace words, or mispells certain words, it doesn't mean he or she is going to make more spelling mistakes in a writing assignment. He or she might even master spelling rules better than someone who doesn't text. Young people play with language and know when it is appropriate or not to use text message characteristics. However, some people disagree and think that texting can have a negative impact on spelling skills, the Spanish language, and calligraphy.
Image Description | Photograph of a group of young girls sitting and using their smartphones, and photograph of someone (hands) texting.
Image Tags | emojis, female(s), hand(s), smartphone, text

Schriftliche Forschheiten: Vom Niedergang der Höflichkeit

(Written briskness: On the demise of politeness)

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Newspaper | Neue Zürcher Zeitung (NZZ)
Date | 1.9.2014
Language | German
Country | Switzerland
Topic Tags | email, language threat, politeness, school, texting, WhatsApp, word/writing
Summary | Communication researchers agree that politeness in professional writing has decreased with the rise of digital communication. Rules of formal writing are omitted: what was“Honored Professor So-and-so” is now a simple “Hello”. Both students and also professors are reported to have a relaxed level of formality in email exchanges. This is usually seen as an influence of texting, where traditional messages of respect are omitted, but it can also be argued that the new brief communication style is a form of respecting the addressee’s time by writing efficiently.
Image Description | Photograph of a female texting; the shot does not show the person's face but emphasizes the phone.
Image Tags | female(s), hand(s), smartphone, text

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