Digital Discourse Database

Number of Posts: 12
Posts 1 - 10

Die Welt mit jungen Augen sehen

(See the world with young eyes)

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Newspaper | Tages-Anzeiger
Date | 5.8.2017
Language | German
Country | Switzerland
Topic Tags | smartphone, threat, youth
Summary | More and more fiction is not targeted at one age group in particular. It is debatable whether that means that the youth today is smarter than ever of whether our currents population consists various generations of eternal teenagers. Novels about young people have always embodies the hope for the future as well as anxieties about current developments like the question, what will happen to our society when smartphones replace all social contacts?
Image Description | N/A

Als die Server zusammenbrechen, fliessen die Tränen

(As the servers break down, the tears start )

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Newspaper | Tages-Anzeiger
Date | 27.7.2017
Language | German
Country | Switzerland
Topic Tags | game, smartphone, threat, virtual reality
Summary | Pokémon Go is a hugely popular smartphone video game that lets players catch virtual Pokémons in their real surroundings by means of augmented reality. A huge public Pokémon Go event was held in Chicago with 20'000 attendees. At some point the inevitable happemned, the servers collapsed and the app would not work any more. Many players became very upset and Pokémon Go reimbursed all attendees who paid to be at the event with a rare Pokémon.
Image Description | An image of a park with Pokémon, a screenshot of a Pokémon Go map, and a hand holding a smartphone with Pokémon Go open on the screen.
Image Tags | hand(s), smartphone

Ausländer raus

(Foreigners out)

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Newspaper | Tages-Anzeiger
Date | 1.10.2016
Language | German
Country | Switzerland
Topic Tags | cyberbullying, social media, threat, word/writing
Summary | Online comment sections on social media and news sites are full of hateful, wrong language. The problem with this is that the discourse about, say, foreigners and asylum seekers is dominated by negative words like "flood" and "chaos". Even the word "foreigner" is misleading becuase the world is not fundamentally divided into locals and foreigners but all of them are equal humans who happen to be born in one place or another. If we want that discourse to change, we must use the platforms which we are able to influence by responding to every hate comment in order to neutralize the discourse.
Image Description | N/A

Ignoranz ist Stärke

(Ignorance is strength)

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Newspaper | Tages-Anzeiger
Date | 3.2.2017
Language | German
Country | Switzerland
Topic Tags | fake news, politics, privacy, smartphone, social media, threat
Summary | Kellyanne Conways term "alternative facts" remind of Orwell's fictional language Newspeak which also changes meanings by renaming. Many facts of contemporary life (especially under the Trump administration) remind of dystopian novels "1984" by G. Orwell and "Brave New World" by A. Huxley. We all carry smartphones with us at all times with which we can send information but which also receive and document information about us like our location, who else is in that location, our communications, purchases, and so on. Privacy has become impossible in the digital age.
Image Description | Images and videos of the film "1984" and George Orwell as well as the news clip where Kellyanne Conway mentions "alternative facts".
Image Tags | female(s), male(s), TV

Einfach mal loslaufen

(Just start walking)

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Newspaper | Tages-Anzeiger
Date | 16.2.2017
Language | German
Country | Switzerland
Topic Tags | technology-free, threat
Summary | Travelling has been made easier by the digitalization - no doubt. But the sheer mass of information available to us has made us control freaks when it comes to traveling. We can research all the coolest hidden spots before we go someplace and then we end up hurrying from one place to another. Now travel guides are coming out that teach people how to give in to serendipity but planned serendipity kind of defeats the purpose.
Image Description | Getty image of a Brooklyn street corner with a bunch of people and a dog.
Image Tags | female(s), male(s)

«Sie agieren wie ein Schwarm»

(«They behave like a swarm»)

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Newspaper | Tages-Anzeiger
Date | 12.10.2016
Language | German
Country | Switzerland
Topic Tags | social media, threat, Twitter
Summary | Extremist groups flourish on social media. It is designed to make users happy, to mirror their preferences, and encapsulates them in a bubble of their own interests isolating them from opposed content. This is very dangerous when people slip into violent extremist circles online. The government and social media corporations should work together on breaking this bubble effect to make sure everyone sees a piece of 'reality' every once in a while.
Image Description | Photograph of a smashed window in front of a Twitter icon.
Image Tags | logo, Twitter

Facebook will das Internet sein

(Facebook wants to be the internet)

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Newspaper | Tages-Anzeiger
Date | 3.12.2015
Language | German
Country | Switzerland
Topic Tags | Facebook, Snapchat, threat
Summary | In the last decade, Facebook has grown an unprecedented group of users. The text compares Facebook to Yahoo who wanted to buy Facebook for only $1 bio back in 2006. According to the author, Facebook, like Yahoo was, is huge right now but increasingly boring. Like Yahoo, Facebook is diversifying its assets including the purchase of WhatsApp and Instagram. Now Snapchat’s increasing popularity is threatening to replace Facebook.
Image Description | N/A

Digitale Entrückung

(Digital rapture)

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Newspaper | Tages-Anzeiger
Date | 21.1.2014
Language | German
Country | Switzerland
Topic Tags | smartphone, threat
Summary | During the industrial revolution, human desensitization and displacement from the tangible world was reflected in the arts. The arts have not begun to work through the social impacts of the digital revolution. They can only be more severe than the social changes sparked from the industrial revolution – the only tangible thing in our day-to-day lives remains the touch-screen. People are removed from their physical surroundings and keep getting into accidents because they are too focused on their phones. The need to take a selfie disrupts valuable experiences just to increase one’s online value.
Image Description | N/A

Ist Kindsein gefährlicher geworden?

(Has being a child become more dangerous?)

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Newspaper | Tages-Anzeiger
Date | 29.7.2014
Language | German
Country | Switzerland
Topic Tags | childhood, smartphone, threat, youth
Summary | Thanks to the fact that most teenagers and even children own a smartphone, parents depend more heavily on the constant availability of their children. Nowadays, parents are worried when they can’t reach their children for an hour whereas previous generations just had to trust their sons and daughters. Psychologists claim that this lack of independence causes a late development of emotional maturity in today’s generation.
Image Description | Photograph of a woman on her phone, at the beach, taken from behind.
Image Tags | female(s), smartphone

Es hat wieder gepiepst

(It beeped again)

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Newspaper | Tages-Anzeiger
Date | 22.7.2016
Language | German
Country | Switzerland
Topic Tags | smartphone, threat
Summary | Our constant availability via smartphone makes us less aware of our physical surroundings. The fact that personal messages as well as news reach us at all times, whether we are ready for them or not, makes our perception of the world even more influenced push notifications. Despite the fact that we are now living in the safest of times, historically speaking, we feel more threatened because of countless graphic reports of terrorist attacks.
Image Description | Photograph in black and white of the author of the article.
Image Tags | male(s)

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