Digital Discourse Database

Number of Posts: 3
Posts 1 - 3

Why are computers such a darned pain to use?

Hyperlink

Newspaper | Telegraph
Date | 16.1.2016
Language | English
Country | UK
Topic Tags | research/study, technology-free, threat
Summary | The author talks about her mother who never got online. She rejected everything related to new technology. A BBC survey showed that older people who don't want to use the internet are worried when they see that people are prioritizing online content over more traditional broadcasting. Banks or newspapers should nevertheless take into account people that feel left behind because they can't or don't want to get online. With new media, there is something new every month, and other things become out of date quickly.
Image Description | Two hands on a laptop keyboard, vintage radio, collage of four new technologies, and chart of UK's five tech types
Image Tags | computer/laptop, hand(s), keyboard

How To Completely Unplug From Your Smartphone For An Entire Day

Hyperlink

Newspaper | Huffington Post
Date | 3.6.2015
Language | English
Country | U.S.
Topic Tags | addiction, research/study, technology-free
Summary | We are all a little addicted to our technological devices and are so used to spending all spare time we have on our smartphones. It is however greatly beneficial to our body and mind to unplug completely for a day. We may not be able to fathom what we could do will all that time without technological devices but the author provides a long list of possible activities: cooking a well-balanced breakfast, reading an actual print newspaper or book, exercising, cleaning up, taking up a craft, playing with one's pets, meeting friends, or going on a day trip to explore.
Image Description | Getty images of people doing the suggested activities and one of a person photographing a sunset on their smartphone (described by tags).
Image Tags | camera, female(s), hand(s), smartphone

The five lessons I learned from breaking my smartphone

Hyperlink

Newspaper | The Guardian
Date | 24.1.2017
Language | English
Country | UK
Topic Tags | brain, research/study, smartphone, technology-free
Summary | After dropping her smartphone in the sink, the author lives without one for six weeks and discovers that she sleeps better without a smartphone, enjoys being unavailable, few things need to be tended to urgently, that she spends less money, and her memory suffers from having a smartphone. Studies have also confirmed that it is detrimental to one's sleep pattern to sleep next to a smartphone because notifications release dopamin in the brain similarly to a nicotine or recreational drug addiction. She values the time she now has to just not be available for messages from work because we tend to respond to any and all messages as if they were urgent when really they are not. The author reports to spend less money because she can no longer do online shopping on the go without a smartphone. She has also realized how dependent on Google she has become. Neurological studies confirm that our brains are adapting to the constant accessibility of all information by remembering how to find it and googling again if necessary rather than remembering the little snippets of information.
Image Description | Getty image of a woman's hands holding a smartphone.
Image Tags | female(s), hand(s), smartphone

Page 1 of 1