Digital Discourse Database

Number of Posts: 20
Posts 1 - 10

Is it wrong to let my child play on my smartphone?

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Newspaper | The Guardian
Date | 10.8.2017
Language | English
Country | UK
Topic Tags | (mental) health, addiction, childhood, smartphone, technology-free
Summary | The author of the article sometimes feels guilty when she lets her 2-year old son play on a smartphone. When young children are glued to a screen, they are so captivated by what they're watching. According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, children younger than 2 should have no exposure to screens; it can hinder their language and social development/skills. The author of the article also claims that her kids already show characteristics of "addicted" behavior. For instance, they scream and are irascible if someone takes their screen away. She also says that what is dangerous is not so much when kids are on screens, but rather when parents are.
Image Description | Photograph of a kid using a smartphone next to an adult.
Image Tags | female(s), male(s), smartphone

Children are addicted to their phones - but the parents are worse

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Newspaper | Telegraph
Date | 25.4.2017
Language | English
Country | UK
Topic Tags | addiction, childhood, smartphone, technology-free, threat
Summary | Allison is an addict and thinks her ability to concentrate has been affected by her phone. On Easter Sunday, she told her kids that no technology was allowed at the table; her son called her mom a hypocrite because she is always on her phone. According to a study, about a third of teenagers have already asked their parents to stop checking their phone. The worst is when toddlers in their strollers are crying to grab their parents' attention and parents keep staring at their phone. Today, a lot of toddlers and children have a lack of language skills.
Image Description | Photograph of a man walking in the street and using his phone (other people in the background)
Image Tags | female(s), male(s), smartphone

The science behind why you shouldn't take your phone on holiday

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Newspaper | Telegraph
Date | 28.4.2017
Language | English
Country | UK
Topic Tags | addiction, smartphone, technology-free, threat
Summary | We take our smartphones with us everywhere, including when we go on vacation. However, smartphones can become a distraction. The articles lists several reasons why people should leave their phone at home and enjoy their vacation: for instance, holidays are good and technology can lead to a lot of problems and dangers, you want to relax and soak up the artmosphere, you want to avoid unimportant trivia, you want to bond with other people, you want to avoid wasting time, you want to leave with the best memories.
Image Description | Photograph of a group of young people taking a selfie, two hands holding a smartphone and taking a picture of a landscape, four young people on their digital devices, man holding a phone and looking at it,
Image Tags | female(s), hand(s), male(s), selfie, smartphone

Can travel still broaden the minds of the smartphone generation?

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Newspaper | Telegraph
Date | 17.8.2017
Language | English
Country | UK
Topic Tags | addiction, smartphone, technology-free, threat, youth
Summary | William Sutcliffe is the author of "Are You Experienced?"; he complains about the smartphone generation and how new technologies have changed travel and backpacking. According to Sutcliffe, it almost looks like people's experiences and adventures today haven't really happened until they have been shared, liked, and commented on. Travels are important for young people; once you're cut off from everything familiar, you can be challenged and see the world from a new perspective. But in today's digital world, is it still possible to cut yourself off from home?
Image Description | Photograph of 5 young people taking a selfie with a selfie stick, drawing of the front page of the book Are you Experienced?, picture of a young man holding a smartphone and looking at it, young woman using her smartphone and looking at it, photograph of a landscape and someone's legs, portrait of a young woman
Image Tags | female(s), male(s), selfie, selfie stick, smartphone

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

Quand l'usage du smartphone risque de virer à l'addiction

(When the use of smartphone can lead to addiction)

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Newspaper | Les Echos
Date | 8.2.2017
Language | French
Country | France
Topic Tags | (mental) health, addiction, smartphone, technology-free, threat
Summary | A third of young people between 18 and 24 claim that they look at their phone more than 50 times a day. People are more and more addicted to their smartphone, and we should be worried about that. The "Days without smartphones" were created 16 years ago because of this new trend. 41% of French people state that they look at their smartphone in the middle of the night, and 81% say that they use their smartphone while having a meal with friends or family. People are anxious if they don't have their phone. We talk about nomophobia to characterize this new health problem.
Image Description | Photograph of three young people looking at their phone and smiling
Image Tags | female(s), male(s), smartphone

The five lessons I learned from breaking my smartphone

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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

Cellphones really are addictive. Here's why.

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Newspaper | Washington Post
Date | 8.2.2016
Language | English
Country | U.S.
Topic Tags | (mental) health, addiction, smartphone, technology-free
Summary | The author reports of her journey of trying to reduce her smartphone use. She decided to start regulating her new media use in her everyday life because she knows the amazing feeling of being free of the internet for a while. Her family takes a technology free vacation every year. Smartphones attract our gaze in an addictive way, similar to casino slot machinces, studies confirm. Exessive smartphone use causes health issues such as sleep deprivation, high blood pressure, and car accidents.
Image Description | iStock photograph of a surprised man looking at his smartphone while lying in bed.
Image Tags | male(s), smartphone

Please, don't silence your cellphones

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Newspaper | Washington Post
Date | 16.4.2016
Language | English
Country | U.S.
Topic Tags | smartphone, technology-free, threat
Summary | AMC's entertainment chief executive commented that they are considering letting moviegoers use their smartphones in AMC theaters. The reasoning behind this statement being that it is no longer possible to tell young adults today to put away their smartphones for two hours. This statement was met with a lot of public anger about smartphones entering even the sanctity of the cinema. AMC quickly rectified the statement saying that texting will not be allowed in their theaters in the foreseeable future.
Image Description | Illustration of a (abstracted, faceless) movie theater audience on top of a huge smartphone screen.
Image Tags | female(s), male(s), smartphone

Field studies of the offspring

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Newspaper | Washington Post
Date | 31.5.2016
Language | English
Country | U.S.
Topic Tags | Facebook, smartphone, Snapchat, technology-free, youth
Summary | The research center conducts in depth interviews with today’s teenagers, the so-called Generation Z or digital natives, on behalf of various corporations. The aim of the study is to find out about this generation’s relationship with new technologies. They all value mobile/digital communication very highly, to the extent that many choose online colleges, online shopping, and home office work over actually having to physically go somewhere to study, work, or shop. They report of the abundance of messages each day and that they also highly value their offline hobbies, such as reading or knitting.
Image Description | Collage-like illustration of youths and online and offline activities.
Image Tags | female(s), male(s), smartphone, social media

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