Digital Discourse Database

Number of Posts: 22
Posts 1 - 10

Are smartphones really making our children sad?

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Newspaper | The Guardian
Date | 13.8.2017
Language | English
Country | UK
Topic Tags | (mental) health, addiction, childhood, smartphone, threat, youth
Summary | Children's relationship with screens has become a contested topic; not everyone agrees with what should or shouldn't be done. Last week, the Atlantic published an excerpt of Jean Twenge's book (the Atlantic article was titled "Have smartphones destroyed a generation?"), which initiated very diverse reactions. Jean Twenge, who is an American pychologist, said that social media have a negative effect on young people. Twenger then answered some of her critics in this Guardian article.
Image Description | Photograph of a group of teenagers all staring at their phone or tablet.
Image Tags | female(s), male(s), smartphone, tablet

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

Inside the rehab saving young men from their internet addiction

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Newspaper | The Guardian
Date | 16.6.2017
Language | English
Country | UK
Topic Tags | (mental) health, addiction, technology-free, threat
Summary | Marshall Carpenter is a 25-year old man who was addicted to new technologies. He used to play video games for 15 hours each day. Now, Marshall lives with other "addicted" men in an apartment in Washington State, where they started a rehab program called reSTART Life. The men talk about their experiences and how being addicted to the internet almost ruined their lives. At the rehab center, those men have to learn how to live again.
Image Description | Photographs of two men sitting outside in the woods, two men and a dog on a couch, man climbing a wall, woman standing outside a cabin, man sweeping, different vignettes with positive messages, man on a couch, and portrait of a man in the woods.
Image Tags | female(s), male(s)

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

Tablets and smartphones damage toddlers' speech development

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Newspaper | Telegraph
Date | 4.5.2017
Language | English
Topic Tags | addiction, childhood, language threat, research/study, smartphone, technology-free, threat
Summary | According to a study, giving toddlers digital devices before the age of two can hinder their speech development. In Britain toddlers spend about 44 minutes a day using digital devices, and it can impact their language skills.
Image Description | Two photographs of toddlers using and looking at a tablet.
Image Tags | female(s), tablet

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

Talk to your teen about Snapchat Ghost Mode, and track their time

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Newspaper | USA Today
Date | 15.7.2017
Language | English
Country | U.S.
Topic Tags | addiction, privacy, research/study, Snapchat, threat, youth
Summary | Teenagers today mainly use Snapchat, 75% to be extact. In comparison, 66% use Facebook, and 47% use Twitter. One third of teenage Snapchat users said they use Snapchat because their parents are not on it. There are various apps that let parents track their children's activity on apps to make sure they do not approach addictive levels of usage. Another good way to track that is to join Snapchat as a parent and keep an eye on one's children from within the app - this is for parents who want to be less "lame" about watching over their children. Snapchat map is a recently added function that parents should be partticularly worried about enabling users to share their location at all times.
Image Description | Screenshots of Snapchat map showing user avatars and settings as well as surveillance apps for parents.
Image Tags | female(s), male(s), Snapchat

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

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