Digital Discourse Database

Number of Posts: 12
Posts 1 - 10

Screens and teens: survival tips for parents on the technology battlefield

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Newspaper | Telegraph
Date | 23.9.2017
Language | English
Country | UK
Topic Tags | (mental) health, addiction, smartphone, social media, threat, youth
Summary | A mom talks about her battle over digital screens with her children. Children are spending more time online, and research keeps showing the negative effects that screens can have (e.g. isolation, bullying, porn, suicide etc.). Since the phenomenon is so new, it is difficult for parents -they have no guide to follow. Technology is not necessarily bad, but parents should make sure their children are okay and happy. The article provides a list with some advice concerning young people and screens; from screen time limit to online groups and social media.
Image Description | Photograph of a young girl using her laptop, a mom and her daughter with a laptop and tablet, three children behind books, and a mom and her two kids with a laptop, tablet, and smartphone.
Image Tags | computer/laptop, female(s), male(s), smartphone, tablet

Why Kids Can't Write

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Newspaper | The New York Times
Date | 2.8.2017
Language | English
Country | U.S.
Topic Tags | grammar, punctuation, school, smartphone, social media, spelling, texting, threat, word/writing
Summary | Many students struggle with writing despite various pedagogical models that have been implemented in past years to tackle that perpetual issue. This is all the more suprising considering that today's students may do moret voluntary writing than any generation before it. They text and post on social media a lot but the writing register is different there. The format's main principle is shortness so grammar, spelling, and punctuation take a back seat.
Image Description | GIF of a hand writing and a group of teachers in a workshop.
Image Tags | female(s), gifs, text

Practice safe Internet on the road

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Newspaper | USA Today
Date | 31.7.2017
Language | English
Country | U.S.
Topic Tags | email, privacy, smartphone, social media, threat
Summary | Traveling can be dangerous, especiallyin the digital age. Many travelers make themselves vulnerable to criminals by sharing their location on social media or by connecting to a password-free wifi which is often provided by scammers to hack into email accounts. In these cases virtual kidnapping becomes possible when travelers spend a few days somewhere off the grid and a local group claims to have kidnapped the traveler and blackmails their family for ransom.
Image Description | Getty image of a woman sitting in a train.
Image Tags | female(s)

'Snowden' filmmaker Oliver Stone warns Pokemon Go is creating a totalitarian world filled with robot-like people

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Newspaper | Mail Online
Date | 22.7.2016
Language | English
Country | UK
Topic Tags | game, privacy, smartphone, social media, threat, virtual reality
Summary | The game Pokemon Go has become so popular that it has overtaken major social media in number of active users. Oliver Stone spoke about the smartphone phenomenon as 'a new level of invasion' that could potentially lead to totalitarianism and a culture of surveillance. Internet giants are tracking everyone's online behavior, especially through the game Pokemon Go.
Image Description | Photograph of Oliver Stone, photograph of three male children looking at their smartphone, photograph of actor Joseph Gordon-Levitt, and photograph of Edward Snowden
Image Tags | male(s), smartphone

Have Smartphones Destroyed a Generation?

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Newspaper | The Atlantic
Date | 0.9.2017
Language | English
Country | U.S.
Topic Tags | (mental) health, addiction, cyberbullying, gender, smartphone, social media, threat, youth
Summary | A US study has conducted a large survey among teenagers and found out that smartphones are impacting their lives significantly. They sleep less, go out less, date less, are less likely to get (someone) pregnant, feel left out more, have more mental health issues, etc. Especially girls are more likely to feel left out because they spend more time on social media and because girls tend to bully each other by ostracization which is very easily achievable in cyberspace. Also, the teenage suicide rate has surpassed the teenage homicide rate for the first time in history.
Image Description | Two illustrations showing a woman falling with a tablet and a woman lying in bed at night looking at her smartphone. Charts showing the results from the US survey.
Image Tags | chart, female(s), smartphone, tablet

Wie der Selfie-Wahn unseren Urlaub ruiniert

(How the selfie craze is ruining our vacation)

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Newspaper | Welt
Date | 28.3.2017
Language | German
Country | Germany
Topic Tags | addiction, selfie, smartphone, social media, threat
Summary | It has become more important to post on social media than to experience. We evaluate our life based on social media likes. This is very visible in holiday destinations, for instance in skiing destinations in Austria which have introduced free wifi on all slopes. People care more about their selfies than about the skiing. This fuels the addictive potential of social media and smartphones.
Image Description | N/A

Du bist nicht allein

(You are not alone)

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Newspaper | Die Zeit
Date | 1.4.2016
Language | German
Country | Germany
Topic Tags | online dating, smartphone, Snapchat, social media, threat
Summary | Smartphones have revolutionized social life. They promise us that we will never be alone again if we stay online. We are always connected wia social media, we can communicate with select people directly by speaking, texting them, or sending them images and video. While we are all digitally connected, we become more isolated face-to-face. On the street, nobody interacts anymore. Smartphones have also begun to be our matchmakers thanks to Tinder and seemingly intuitive swiping which is rather learned in reality.
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

Was mit dem iPhone begann, wird mit gläsernen Menschen enden

(What started with the iPhone will end with glass humans)

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Newspaper | Welt
Date | 9.1.2017
Language | German
Country | Germany
Topic Tags | smartphone, social media, threat
Summary | Exactly ten years ago Steve Jobs presented the first iPhone - a pioneer among smartphones. In the past ten years we saw an unprecedented change in communication. With technological innovation our digital communication has become more and more multimodal. The general tone has become quicker, more informal, and contains emojis. Social media are taking over what used to be social hobbies like sports clubs and such. It remains to be seen whether future generations will consider the broad surveillance and big data as boon or bane.
Image Description | Getty image of Steve Jobs with the first iPhone.
Image Tags | smartphone

Les jeunes passent plus de temps sur le net

(Young people spend more time online)

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Newspaper | 20 minutes
Date | 9.11.2016
Language | French
Country | Switzerland
Topic Tags | addiction, research/study, smartphone, social media, threat, youth
Summary | According to a study, young people spend an average of 2 hours and 30 minutes online during the week, and 3 hours and 40 minutes on the weekend. Also, young people cannot live without their smartphone. They don't usually use their phone to make phone calls or text; they rather use their phone for social media (e.g. Snapchat, Instagram). Even though young people spend a lot of time on their phone, they still meet with friends face-to-face. Smartphones do not replace physical relationships. Finally, families should have rules for new media use at home.
Image Description | Photograph of a group of teenagers (their faces are cut off from the picture); they are sitting next to each other using their phones.
Image Tags | smartphone

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