Digital Discourse Database

Number of Posts: 8
Posts 1 - 8

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

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

Paulinas Englischlehrer

(Paulina's English teacher)

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Newspaper | Die Zeit
Date | 6.7.2017
Language | German
Country | Germany
Topic Tags | childhood, digitized education, research/study, technology-free
Summary | Linguists are currently working on robots who can teach foreign languages to children. It is a new research field and it is being tested in several childcare institutions and kindergardens. The results show that children learn better when they are emotionally invested and that is the main advantage of a robot versus just a tablet.The robot is more humanoid and responds emotionally (with praise for correct answers for instance). Recent studies say that 70% of pre-schoolers user their parents' smartphones or tablets for more than 30 minutes a day when that should be the maximum screen time (including TV) a child has per day.
Image Description | A girl using the language learning robot.
Image Tags | female(s), school

Don't overshare and put your phone down when you are talking to me: Children reveal how they expect their PARENTS to use technology

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Newspaper | Mail Online
Date | 8.3.2016
Language | English
Country | UK
Topic Tags | addiction, childhood, research/study, smartphone, technology-free
Summary | When parents create rules to limit their children's smartphone use at home, they also want their parents to respect those rules themselves. A survey shows that children consider two rules particularly important: they want their parents to be present, and they don't want their parents to share personal information about them (the children) online without their consent. Children want to be able to talk to their parents and have their full attention. It's also easier to follow certain rules if the whole family respects them.
Image Description | Two photographs: two kids are eating breakfast while their mom is on the phone, and two other kids and their mom are on their phones, laughing. One video of kids being interviewed about their parents' smartphone use; they feel ignored.
Image Tags | female(s), male(s), smartphone

How Silicon Valley's parents keep their children safe online

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Newspaper | The Guardian
Date | 2.3.2016
Language | English
Country | UK
Topic Tags | childhood, smartphone, social media, technology-free, threat
Summary | Silicon Valley's parents explain how they deal with their children's use of internet. Since parents cannot control everything or spy on their kids, they talk to them and teach them how to use the internet. Some parents have more restrictions; for example, no screens from Friday night to Saturday night. As a result, parents and children spend more time together and do fun activities. Other parents only let ther children go online with an adult's supervision. A psychologist claims that social media have a negative impact on children; they drive them away from family and school.
Image Description | Photograph of a female child sitting on her bed and looking at a tablet.
Image Tags | female(s), tablet

Man kann Smartphones mit Drogen vergleichen

(Smartphones are comparable with drugs)

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Newspaper | Der Standard
Date | 30.5.2016
Language | German
Country | Austria
Topic Tags | childhood, school, technology-free, threat, youth
Summary | Media scholar Gerald Lembke pleads for a more careful usage of new technologies. He has banned laptops from his classes and was able to observe an increase in concentration and in grade averages. Further, Lembke urges parents and schools not to let children use computers or tablets until they are ten because they are not able to understand and engage critically with digital media earlier. This apprehensive stance towards new media usage is rooted in the fact that people use their smartphones an average of 3 hours a day (young people use them an average of 7 hours a day).
Image Description | One photograph of children playing on a tablet and one photograph of the author of the article.
Image Tags | female(s), male(s), tablet

Les mamans 2.0 ont tous les trucs pour garder leurs enfants à l'oeil

(Moms 2.0 have all the tricks to keep an eye on their kids)

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Newspaper | Le Matin Dimanche
Date | 11.5.2014
Language | French
Country | Switzerland
Topic Tags | childhood, smartphone, technology-free, texting, threat, youth
Summary | New technologies are changing family relations. Mothers think that giving their kids a phone will allow them to always keep in touch with them. However, the sooner children get a phone, the faster they grow apart from their parents. New technologies also change relations of authority in a family. Parents should not prohibit the use of screens; they should always talk to their kids about new media use. Parents who are not interested in new technologies are making a mistake; they are missing occasions to communicate with their kids and their authority is compromised.
Image Description | Illustration of a mother reading a "Happy Mother's day" text and being nostalgic of old times.
Image Tags | female(s), smartphone, text

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