Digital Discourse Database

Number of Posts: 12
Posts 1 - 10

Quand le smartphone fait de l'ombre au bébé

(When smartphones eclipse babies)

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Newspaper | La Tribune de Genève
Date | 13.6.2017
Language | French
Country | Switzerland
Topic Tags | (mental) health, addiction, childhood, smartphone, technology-free, threat
Summary | More and more parents take a lot of pictures of their newborn before holding him/her for the first time. As a result, a hospital in the Swiss German part of Switzerland decided to impose a new rule: no screen during mother-baby nap. The problem especially affects the younger generation (under 30). Parents seem to pay more attention to their smartphone, which is alarming. For instance, mothers post pictures of themselves in labor. There are no special rules in Geneva, but doctors and midwives are thinking about alternatives. An excessive use of smartphones can also have a negative impact on children's development.
Image Description | Photograph of a hand taking a picture of a newborn with a smartphone
Image Tags | hand(s), smartphone

«Ich bin der Dolmetscher der Kinder»

(«I am the translator of the children»)

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Newspaper | Tages-Anzeiger
Date | 13.6.2017
Language | German
Country | Switzerland
Topic Tags | childhood, smartphone
Summary | A pediatrician recommends parents to let their children use smartphones and other digital media as much as they like if they do well in school and are socially competent. If they have issues in school or with their social competency, then parents should limit their smartphone use as much as possible. Children must be taught to take responsibility. It is however counter-productive to demonize digital media as they have become inevitable part of all our lives.
Image Description | Portrait of the pediatrician.
Image Tags | male(s)

Einfach mal abschalten

(Just turn it off for a little)

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Newspaper | die Weltwoche
Date | 27.4.2017
Language | German
Country | Switzerland
Topic Tags | (mental) health, addiction, childhood, smartphone, threat
Summary | Lots of adults are virtually tied to their smartphones, even when crossing the street. The children, naturally, imitate this and for the "head-down generation". One cannot blame the children for becoming addicted to smartphones because they can only form into what they learn from their parents. No wonder that we are dealing with epidemic-like amounts of ADHD diagnoses: children are tranquilized with screens and later the developmental tolls of this are treated with drugs.
Image Description | A collage-like illustration of parents drifting off into the ocean on rafts made of giant smartphones and the children left behind on an island.
Image Tags | female(s), male(s), smartphone

"Le petit enfant cherche avant tout la relation"

("The child primarily looks for relationships")

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Newspaper | La Tribune de Genève
Date | 9.1.2016
Language | French
Country | Switzerland
Topic Tags | childhood, smartphone, threat
Summary | A psychiatrist talks about the relationship between children and screens. Before 3 years old, adults should always be there and should only use screens on a short period of time, to entertain. But it is important to also use traditional toys so that children do not think their parents only think of digital devices. Moreover, it is important to have rules: no tablet during dinner, nor to calm down a child. Also, tablets should not be used at night because of the light. Smartphones should only be used by parents; children should not use them to play.
Image Description | N/A

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

Abus d'écrans, responsabilité de parents

(Screen abuse, parents' responsibility )

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Newspaper | Le Temps
Date | 31.1.2015
Language | French
Country | Switzerland
Topic Tags | addiction, childhood, smartphone, technology-free, threat, youth
Summary | Parents keep complaining about the fact that their children are stuck to their digital devices. More and more households in Switzerland own several digital devices ("screens"), which has consequences on family relations. Indeed, screens hinder natural communication and create problems. Parents seem lost and don't know what to do. Some parents have specific rules: no phone during dinner, or no phone before going to school in the morning, or no more than 30 minutes a day. A psychiatrist claims that the main rule should be to always privilege people physically present around us, especially children.
Image Description | N/A

Des camps de désintox pour pour accros au smartphone

(Rehab camps for smartphone addicts)

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Newspaper | 24 heures
Date | 12.3.2016
Language | French
Country | Switzerland
Topic Tags | addiction, brain, childhood, smartphone, technology-free, youth
Summary | South Korea is one of the most digitally connected countries. As a consequence, 1 out of 10 children is addicted to internet and other digital devices. Rehab camps for young internet addicts is supposed to help children live without digital devices. In those camps, children go hiking, play guitar, and read paper books. Rehab can be tough; it is almost the same process as for alcoholics or drug addicts. At the end of the camp, those young people know how to appreciate real life and have to find out what the causes of their escape to the virtual world are.
Image Description | Photograph of young people in South Korea playing video games in a room full of computers.
Image Tags | computer/laptop, game, male(s)

Hilfe, Mama und Papa sind handysüchtig!

(Help, mom and dad are addicted to their cell phones!)

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Newspaper | Sonntagszeitung
Date | 23.2.2014
Language | German
Country | Switzerland
Topic Tags | addiction, childhood, smartphone, youth
Summary | When talking to teens who are often accused by the media of being obsessed with their smartphones, it becomes clear that their adult role models are just as preoccupied by the constant availability of the smartphone. Children and teenagers lament that they do not get their parents’ attention when there is a smartphone nearby.
Image Description | N/A

Teenager: Vom Handy um den Schlaf gebracht

(Teenagers: Kept from sleeping because of cell phone)

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Newspaper | Beobachter
Date | 29.5.2014
Language | German
Country | Switzerland
Topic Tags | childhood, smartphone, threat, youth
Summary | Smartphones or other screens should not be part of the going to sleep routine because the light emitted by screens hinders the sleeping process. Action films and games excite children too much, which prevents them from sleeping well. Smartphones should not be in the bedroom at night because they disrupt sleep.
Image Description | Photograph of a teenage girl using her smarphone in bed.
Image Tags | female(s), smartphone

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

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