Digital Discourse Database

Number of Posts: 26
Posts 1 - 10

New ideas for treating concussions

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Newspaper | Washington Post
Date | 12.4.2016
Language | English
Country | U.S.
Topic Tags | (mental) health, smartphone, texting
Summary | Doctors are looking into new ways to treat concussions and one of those ways is to stop texting or using a smartphone. Concussion-related headaches are often visually triggered so staring at a screen for hours like many people routinely do does not help heal from a concussion.
Image Description | Hands of a woman placing a football helmet on a boy's head.
Image Tags | female(s), hand(s), male(s)

The Week in Tech: The Next Big Thing, According to Mark Zuckerberg

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Newspaper | The New York Times
Date | 16.4.2016
Language | English
Country | U.S.
Topic Tags | Facebook, research/study, smartphone, texting, virtual reality
Summary | Facebook is already huge: more than three times as many messages are transmitted over Facebook Messenger than SMS messages at its peak. But Facebook is also hugely significant as a video platform and they are investing much of their resources in developing virtual reality. Apparently, Zuckerberg believes that VR is the next big platform after the smartphone. They are even working with anthropologists to make the body language VR avatars more realistic.
Image Description | An image of Zuckerberg doing a presentation with VR goggles projected behind him.
Image Tags | Facebook, male(s)

So, Is That a Thing?

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Newspaper | The New York Times
Date | 16.4.2016
Language | English
Country | U.S.
Topic Tags | language threat, smartphone
Summary | The smartphone keeps us on the running at all times up to the point that we are overflooded with information on a daily basis. No wonder that the phrase "is that a thing?" makes sense to most people today. It is a lazy way to express that something is a significant state of affairs.
Image Description | Collage art abstractly illustrating "a thing" versus "not a thing".
Image Tags | text

Benefits of Study Abroad: ‘My Students Return Transformed’

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Newspaper | The New York Times
Date | 12.4.2016
Language | English
Country | U.S.
Topic Tags | diversity, selfie, smartphone, threat, youth
Summary | In response to the article “Study Abroad’s Seven Deadly Sins”, this university educator agrees that inappropriate selfies and ever-present smartphones are an issue among study abroad students. She however emphasized that such articles are not helpful at this time of heightened anxiety about rising nationalism and that students must instead be encouraged more strongly to go study abroad.
Image Description | N/A

Maybe a new frontier in medicine: Ask patient, 'How are you feeling?'

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Newspaper | Washington Post
Date | 12.4.2016
Language | English
Country | U.S.
Topic Tags | (mental) health, smartphone
Summary | Medicine is using new technologies to enhance the treatment of patients. This is especially useful for patients of chronic illnesses because they can track their health parameters, moods, pain levels on their smartphones and then share this data with their physicians.
Image Description | N/A

Study Abroad's Seven Deadly Sins

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Newspaper | The New York Times
Date | 8.4.2016
Language | English
Country | U.S.
Topic Tags | politeness, selfie, smartphone, threat, youth
Summary | The seven deadly sins of studying abroad incude two sins related to the digital realm. First, study abroad students should at best not take a smartphone with them. It will keep them way to connected with their peers at home and the fear of missing out on activities at home will make them text with friends from home rather than meet new people in the foreign country they are supposed to be experiencing. Second, stay abroad students should be conscious of how they take their selfies - they can easily be disrespectful depending on the place and the pose one strikes.
Image Description | Colorful number 1 through 7.

In a crisis? Don't count on Siri, Google, Cortana

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Newspaper | USA Today
Date | 17.3.2016
Language | English
Country | U.S.
Topic Tags | (mental) health, artificial intelligence, research/study, smartphone, threat
Summary | Researchers have tested various artificial intelligence smartphone assistants with how they respond to crises. The results were very poor. Most AI assistants could not handle clear indications of a crisis like "I was raped" and just offered web searches. Experts think AI assistants could potentially be a great help in a crisis because people might more easily open up to their smartphones than to another person.
Image Description | N/A

Hey Siri, Can I Rely on You in a Crisis? Not Always, a Study Finds

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Newspaper | The New York Times
Date | 14.3.2016
Language | English
Country | U.S.
Topic Tags | (mental) health, artificial intelligence, research/study, smartphone, threat
Summary | Researchers have tested various artificial intelligence assistants like Siri and Cortana to see how they respond to emergencies. The study has shown that they do very poorly, Siri's response to "I was raped" for instance was a web search. Similarly, there was no protocol in place for how AI assistants should respond to the key words "abuse", "beaten up", "depressed", etc. Now, Siri responds to statements indicating suicide thoughts with a suggestion to call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline.
Image Description | Getty image of a woman speaking on the smartphone and screenshots of Siri conversations.
Image Tags | female(s), smartphone

In the Apple Case, a Debate Over Data Hits Home

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Newspaper | The New York Times
Date | 13.3.2016
Language | English
Country | U.S.
Topic Tags | Facebook, law, politics, privacy, research/study, smartphone, threat
Summary | Apple's refusal to aide the FBI with breaking into the phone of the San Bernardino attacker has unleashed a political debate among Americans. IT experts as well as lay people report that they have had discussions about the topic with other people, some say they have had fights over Facebook with family members about the issue. Polls show that the American people are hugely divided on the topic: 42% think Apple should cooperate with the FBI while 47% support Apple's stance to protect user privacy.
Image Description | Getty image of a protest crowd showing a man holding up his smartphone with the text: "Don't turn our phones into FBI drones".
Image Tags | female(s), male(s), smartphone, text

Justice Dept. calls Apple's encryption fight 'a diversion'

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Newspaper | Washington Post
Date | 10.3.2016
Language | English
Country | U.S.
Topic Tags | law, marketing, privacy, smartphone, threat
Summary | Ever since the FBI asked Apple to unlock a terrorist's iPhone, a huge debate around user privacy has ensued. Other tech companies side with Apple with the position that aiding the FBI at the expense of user privacy would open the gate for masses of future cases. The Justice Department however accuses Apple of purposefully making unbreachable smartphones, which may be good for user privacy (and thus for profit) but a huge problem for the police to be able to investigate criminal cases.
Image Description | Hand holding an iPhone.
Image Tags | hand(s), smartphone

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