Digital Discourse Database

Number of Posts: 2
Posts 1 - 2

At C.D.C., a Debate Behind Recommendations on Cellphone Risk

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Newspaper | The New York Times
Date | 1.1.2016
Language | German
Country | Germany
Topic Tags | (mental) health, brain, childhood, research/study, smartphone, threat
Summary | A controversy has sparked over the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's health recommendation regarding cell phones. They had reviewed research on brain tumor risk connected with cell phone use and decided that the data were not convincing enough. Their recommendation was that cell phone users need not be more cautious with cell phones than other daily lifestyle choices. However, the research is also not extensive enough to disprove an increased risk of brain tumor with high rates of cell phone use, especially for children. In response to the backlash to this recommendation, their stance was revised a few times so that it now states that the C.D.C. does not recommend caution but other organizations do.
Image Description | Reuters image of a crowd and one man speaking on the smartphone.
Image Tags | male(s), smartphone

Dumbing Down the Phone for Children

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Newspaper | The New York Times
Date | 12.12.2015
Language | English
Country | U.S.
Topic Tags | childhood, smartphone, threat, youth
Summary | Parents all face the problem of their children wishing for smartphones for christmas at some point. Often, parents feel that point arrives too early. There are some possibilities to ease children into new media use, by getting a "dumbphone" for instance which has no internet access. Even smartphones have settings for parental control where curfews can be set when the child/teenager is supposed to sleep and not be able to use the smartphone or to block social media or in-app purchases. It is irresponsible to give young children/teenagers full use of a smartphone but one should give them access to the digital sphere in steps, just as one does not start teaching a child how to cook by handing it all the sharp knives.
Image Description | Photograph of a family in front of christmas tree gathered around a smartphone.
Image Tags | female(s), male(s), smartphone

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