Digital Discourse Database

Number of Posts: 13
Posts 1 - 10

Are smartphones really making our children sad?

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Newspaper | The Guardian
Date | 13.8.2017
Language | English
Country | UK
Topic Tags | (mental) health, addiction, childhood, smartphone, threat, youth
Summary | Children's relationship with screens has become a contested topic; not everyone agrees with what should or shouldn't be done. Last week, the Atlantic published an excerpt of Jean Twenge's book (the Atlantic article was titled "Have smartphones destroyed a generation?"), which initiated very diverse reactions. Jean Twenge, who is an American pychologist, said that social media have a negative effect on young people. Twenger then answered some of her critics in this Guardian article.
Image Description | Photograph of a group of teenagers all staring at their phone or tablet.
Image Tags | female(s), male(s), smartphone, tablet

Liebesgeschichte, Heldenreise, Flachwitze, Kacke

(Love story, a hero's journey, flat jokes, poop)

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Newspaper | Welt
Date | 2.8.2017
Language | German
Country | Germany
Topic Tags | childhood, emojis, marketing, smartphone, texting, threat, youth
Summary | The new emoji movie for children is an animated film starring emojis as its main protagonists. Critics find it quite distasteful because it is full of casual advertising for major tech companies and because it does not address the danger of the internet at all. In Textopolis, the world in which emojis live, alphabetic letters are depicted as elderly with walking canes because the youth does not use letters anymore.
Image Description | Screenshots from the Emoji movie.
Image Tags | emojis, female(s), male(s)

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

Should I befriend my children and their pals online?

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Newspaper | Telegraph
Date | 10.6.2017
Language | English
Country | UK
Topic Tags | childhood, privacy, social media, threat, youth
Summary | 80% of children between 11 and 15 years old have a smartphone. They spend a lot of time on social media platforms. Social media have a lot of advantages but they can also lead to social exclusion and embarrassment. According to a study, Instagram and Snapchat are the worst platforms for teenagers and young adults. As a result, some parents want to join the same social media sites and befriend their children so they can keep an eye on them. However, this might not be the right solution. Children and parents have a right to privacy.
Image Description | Photograph of a woman (foreground) and two children on their phone (background), a kid using and looking at a screen,
Image Tags | female(s), male(s), smartphone, tablet

Children are humiliating victims by using memes and chat rooms to 'roast' them in the latest cyberbullying craze

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Newspaper | Mail Online
Date | 25.7.2016
Language | English
Country | UK
Topic Tags | childhood, cyberbullying, gender, texting, youth
Summary | Parents and teachers are worried about one type of cyberbullying; children pick on another with offensive abuse until the victim ‘cracks’. Girls seem to be twice as likely as boys to be perpetrators and victims of cyberbullying (boys seem to be more involved in physical bullying). It usually happens in group chats where people know each other. Cyberbullying is a competitive activity; the most offensive thing someone says, the better. One of the downsides of the digital era is cyberbullying and our children's protection.
Image Description | Photograph of a girl in front of her computer screen and photograph of a boy looking at a tablet screen.
Image Tags | computer/laptop, female(s), male(s), tablet

Sexting: A language our children must never learn

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Newspaper | Daily Telegraph
Date | 20.4.2017
Language | English
Country | UK
Topic Tags | abbreviations, childhood, sexting, technology-free, threat, youth
Summary | Youths are using abbreviations to keep their parents out of the loop like LMIRL (let's meet in real life). The police have published a list of these to help parents monitor their children. It is sad that children and teenagers have such low self-esteem that they do anything to receive validation from their digital peers. This is not just youth culture or rap music's fault but rather the parent's fault. They are always busy and spend too much time on their smartphone rather than gracing their children with face-to-face attention and smartphone-free activities.
Image Description | Getty image of a teenage boy smirking at a smartphone.
Image Tags | male(s), smartphone

Los ancianos prefieren WhatsApp y Facebook y detestan los selfis

(Seniors prefer WhatsApp and Facebook and hate selfies)

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Newspaper | 20 minutos
Date | 28.5.2015
Language | Spanish
Country | Spain
Topic Tags | childhood, Facebook, research/study, selfie, social media, WhatsApp, youth
Summary | According to a study, seniors (64+) prefer using WhatsApp and Facebook because they can connect with their grandchildren. Also, using new media make them feel young and modern. With social media, seniors feel active and integrated. However, they don't choose social media to have more relationships; most of them already are very social offline. They like WhatsApp a lot because they can create groups (family, friends, etc.) and keep in touch with everyone. They also like the fact they can stay in touch with their grandchildren and share pictures with them. Seniors like to communicate using memes, videos, and images; it is actually more difficult for them to write.
Image Description | Photograph of a male senior and a female child looking at a family album.
Image Tags | female(s), male(s)

Richard Gerver: 'Los deberes no benefician a los niños'

(Richard Gerver: 'Homework assignments do not benefit children')

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Newspaper | El Mundo
Date | 18.11.2014
Language | Spanish
Country | Spain
Topic Tags | childhood, digitized education, school, youth
Summary | Richard Gerver, expert in education, lets his kids play video games to learn. Gerver claims that young people use new technologies to learn; they learn better if they feel involved. Today's education system is old-fashioned and boring; if we create something stimulating and fun, pupils will want to go to class.
Image Description | Photograph of Richard Gerver.
Image Tags | male(s)

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

C'est la rentrée à l'école numérisée

(It's the start of the digital school year)

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Newspaper | Le Temps
Date | 30.8.2016
Language | French
Country | Switzerland
Topic Tags | childhood, digitized education, school, smartphone, youth
Summary | A school principal explains how digital devices can help children learn. He wants to progressively digitize 50% of the school material. Smartphones and laptops don't ruin the school system; we just need to know how to use them. At his private school, everyone has a an iPad where they can find their class material. Now, the school provides each child with an iPad, but soon everyone will bring their own device. Our digitized society has the advantage of tightening social relationships between people, which is something not everyone agrees with.
Image Description | Photograph of a child using a tablet.
Image Tags | chart, female(s), male(s), school, tablet

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