Digital Discourse Database

Number of Posts: 4
Posts 1 - 4

Die optimierte Frau

(The optimized woman)

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Newspaper | die Weltwoche
Date | 8.1.2015
Language | German
Country | Switzerland
Topic Tags | Instagram, selfie, social media, youth
Summary | New social media platforms such as Instagram perpetuate unrealistic beauty standards because the seeming effortlessness of the snaps is in reality highly staged. Cosmetic surgeons assume that the obsession with physical perfection is responsible for the fact that people nowadays are much less apprehensive to undergo cosmetic surgery. The article makes a reference to danah boyd’s book It’s Complicated: The Social Lives of Networked Teens.
Image Description | Selfie of Karlie Kloss and Taylor Swift
Image Tags | selfie

La tentation de la déconnexion

(The temptation of being disconnected)

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Newspaper | La Tribune de Genève
Date | 17.1.2015
Language | French
Country | Switzerland
Topic Tags | addiction, email, smartphone, threat
Summary | There is now a general feeling of overdose or "virtual burnout" with new media. This feeling touches both private and professional spaces. A professor a the University of Neuchatel condemns this phenomenon which can have bad consequences at work. Nowadays, even if we leave our office, our work does not stop; we can still receive emails and feel like we have to respond right away. Some companies have rules: for example, no email after 6 p.m. and during the weekend. This digital overdose also hinders our personal relations with people.
Image Description | Digital image with new media use statistics, and icons related to new media.
Image Tags | computer/laptop, smartphone

Schreiben: Die Handschrift verkümmert

(Writing: Handwriting is hampered)

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Newspaper | Neue Zürcher Zeitung (NZZ)
Date | 1.3.2015
Language | German
Country | Switzerland
Topic Tags | language threat, research/study, texting, word/writing
Summary | We are living in an age writing renaissance; no generation before us has written this profusely. We are always texting someone or updating our social media statuses and yet, ironically, we are losing a staple of writing culture: our handwriting. Researchers are debating whether this is a problem or not, but the fact is that many neuroscientific studies show that humans learn better while writing by hand rather than typing. The abbreviated, informal, emoticon-filled writing style of WhatsApp and co. may be corrupting writing culture at large.
Image Description | Photograph of a young child (girl) typing on a laptop.
Image Tags | computer/laptop, female(s)

Du sollst kein Handy haben

(Thou shalt not have a cell phone)

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Newspaper | Sonntagszeitung
Date | 30.8.2015
Language | German
Country | Switzerland
Topic Tags | smartphone
Summary | People are annoyed by masses of refugees with smartphones. The fact that they own modern technological devices makes their right of asylum less convincing. What people forget is that if they had to flee their country, one of the first things they would pack is certainly a smartphone. Thanks to free WiFi or cheap international phone service deals, owning a smartphone has become a basic human requirement next to having food and shelter. WhatsApp and other messaging apps are refugees’ means to stay in touch with their family, navigate through foreign territories, and communicate with human traffickers.
Image Description | Photograph of a group of young men taking a selfie with a selfie stick on a beach.
Image Tags | male(s), selfie, selfie stick

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