Digital Discourse Database

Number of Posts: 13
Posts 1 - 10

Per SMS-Alarm ans Obligatorische

(Text message alarm to remind of compulsory (shooting practice))

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Newspaper | Tagblatt (Thurgau)
Date | 21.5.2015
Language | German
Country | Switzerland
Topic Tags | texting
Summary | Frauenfeld’s shooting club president, Damian Schlatter, has launched a text message alarm service to remind military recruits of their obligatory shooting practice. Because fines for missed shooting practices are very high, this text message alarm is very popular. This is also a good way to better the shooting club’s image as being for old people only and transporting it into the 21st century.
Image Description | Photograph in black and white of Damian Schlatter.
Image Tags | male(s)

Im Digital-Detox-Camp sind Smartphones tabu

(Smartphones are taboo in digital detox camps)

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Newspaper | 20 Minuten
Date | 23.7.2015
Language | German
Country | Switzerland
Topic Tags | addiction, smartphone, technology-free
Summary | Many people feel the need to restrict their technology use by taking a technology free or digital ‘detox’ holiday. Some tourist destinations already offer specific technology free accommodations, f.i. a monastery in Germany and a camp near Silicon Valley in California. Visitors are told to paint rather than instagram and talk to people rather than tweet. Ironically, these technology free spaces have become a luxury.
Image Description | Series of ten photographs potraying young people at digital detox camps.
Image Tags | female(s), male(s)

Studenten können nicht mehr richtig schreiben

(Students cannot write properly anymore)

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Newspaper | 20 Minuten
Date | 21.1.2015
Language | German
Country | Switzerland
Topic Tags | language threat, school, spelling, texting, youth
Summary | Students' writing skills are poorer than in previous years. It may be due to the fact that elementary schools no longer correct every spelling mistake in first and second grade but rather value content over form. Another reason that can explain students' lower writing skills is new media use. Most of young people's writing and reading is done through new media nowadays, and informal writing is prevalent in those digital spheres. The increasing informalization of language on social media is seen as a threat to our language.
Image Description | Photograph taken from behind of an elementary classroom with children.
Image Tags | female(s), male(s), school

Schüler ärgern sich über offizielles Handyverbot

(Students are upset about official mobile phone prohibition)

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Newspaper | 20 Minuten
Date | 14.8.2015
Language | German
Country | Switzerland
Topic Tags | school, smartphone, technology-free
Summary | Several schools in Switzerland have prohibited the use of mobile phones inside their buildings. Educators would like the students to interact with each other face-to-face rather than stare at their smartphones. Students are very upset, and media experts claim that schools need to adapt to changing times and teach a pragmatic use of new media.
Image Description | Photograph of a school playground where young people/students are walking.
Image Tags | female(s), male(s), school

Wir schauen täglich 88-mal aufs Handy

(We look at our mobile phones 88 times a day)

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Newspaper | 20 Minuten
Date | 13.10.2015
Language | German
Country | Switzerland
Topic Tags | addiction, smartphone
Summary | We spend 2.5 hours a day using our smartphones, and young people spend 3 hours a day. We look at our phones 88 times a day on average because the expectation of a message releases dopamin into our blood flow. The same mechanism causes gambling addiction with slot machines. We need to make an actual effort to make room for smartphone and internet free time in order to stay focused on the task at hand. Otherwise we run the risk of suffering from a ‘digital burnout’.
Image Description | Series of three photographs: portrait of interviewee, hands holding smartphones, and child using his smartphone in bed.
Image Tags | hand(s), male(s), smartphone

Ständig unanständig

(Constantly rude)

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Newspaper | Beobachter
Date | 10.7.2015
Language | German
Country | Switzerland
Topic Tags | politeness, smartphone, threat, youth
Summary | People, especially younger generations, have become less considerate of their environment in a variety of ways. One factor causing this decrease in politeness is the smartphone. People are consumed by digital content and less aware of their actual surroundings. For example, when immersed in their smartphone, people might not see if somebody on the street needs help or if another passenger on the bus can’t sit down because one’s bag is on a seat. Personal meetings have also become less focused.
Image Description | Illustration of a cafeteria scene where young people are eating and using their smartphone.
Image Tags | female(s), male(s), smartphone

Ich verzichte auf Facebook, weil es sich schlecht anfühlt

(I'm giving up Facebook because it feels wrong)

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Newspaper | Sonntagszeitung
Date | 11.10.2015
Language | German
Country | Switzerland
Topic Tags | addiction, threat
Summary | Douglas Rushkoff, media theory professor at New York University, talks about social and political developments caused by the business of big data. Talking about instant messaging, he says that face-to-face communication suffers from the constant presence and availability of digital communication. The possibility of multi-tasking is tempting, but it is disruptive to personal encounters.
Image Description | Photograph of D. Rushkoff, standing with his arms crossed in front of a door.
Image Tags | male(s)

Händler ohne Waren

(Merchants without merchandise)

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Newspaper | NZZ Folio
Date | 5.10.2015
Language | German
Country | Switzerland
Topic Tags | marketing
Summary | In an interview with trend researcher Karin Frick, the future of digital development is discussed. Frick predicts that commercial as well as social interactions will become more digitized. Examples illustrating this trend would be the car-sharing app Uber which connects drivers with people who need a ride. Similarly, already existing and highly popular dating apps point to what might become the norm for initiating all personal interaction.
Image Description | Illustration (drawing, painting, collage) of people, different shapes and colors.
Image Tags | female(s), male(s)

Sklaven des Smartphones

(Slaves to smartphones)

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Newspaper | Tages-Anzeiger
Date | 5.3.2015
Language | German
Country | Switzerland
Topic Tags | school, smartphone, threat
Summary | Japan and South Korea – both highly digitized nations – experience the negative effects of omnipresent internet access. The article infers that conversations have become a rarity because smartphones and the need to update social media profiles distract people. A South Korean literature scholar states that students hardly read books anymore; therefore, government incentives for reading have been established. The article even predicts a return to analphebetization in these nations.
Image Description | Photograph of a young man's face half-hidden by his iPhone.
Image Tags | male(s), smartphone

WhatsAppitis

(WhatsAppitis)

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Newspaper | Appenzeller Zeitung
Date | 15.4.2015
Language | German
Country | Switzerland
Topic Tags | (mental) health, texting, WhatsApp
Summary | A myriad of new illnesses named after new technologies are reported in the media and in scientific journals. WhatsAppitis, for instance, is the tendinitis of the thumb. There is also the so-called text-neck and many other more or less serious neologisms like that.
Image Description | Photograph of the author Peter Abegglen.
Image Tags | male(s)

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