Digital Discourse Database

Number of Posts: 5
Posts 1 - 5

Learn to speak EMOJI: Translator app turns everything you say into popular symbols

Hyperlink

Newspaper | Mail Online
Date | 17.12.2015
Language | English
Country | UK
Topic Tags | emojis, translation, youth
Summary | Words do not always express the exact feeling people want to transmit, so emojis can help. Thanks to a new app (SpeakEmoji), you can now translate what you want to say (voice) into emojis. Emojis are a new universal language, so this new app is suited for our digital era. The app was first designed to help parents communicate through emojis. In 2015, an emoji was chosen as word of the year because it represented the mood and preocuppations of the year.
Image Description | Screenshots of the SpeakEmoji app, video of the new translator app, and video of how to use emojis in social media
Image Tags | emojis, male(s), social media

What’s the big deal about sexting?

Hyperlink

Newspaper | CNN
Date | 2.1.2015
Language | English
Country | U.S.
Topic Tags | law, sexting, threat, youth
Summary | Sexting is not as threatening as everyone thinks - it is developmentally appropriate for teenagers to be exploring their sexuality with all channels available to them. In most cases, sexting is unproblematic except when nude images are shared (this has even resulted in suicides of the victims) or minors are prosecuted for distributing child pornography by sexting (though laws are being adjusted to exclude sexting). But even if it is just consensual sexting among peers, our society tends to overreact about any expression of sexual identity of minors but we condone oversexualized imagery of girls in the media (glossy magazines/animated films).
Image Description | Shutterstock of a male torso using a smartphone.
Image Tags | male(s), smartphone

How Do We Get Young People to Stop Sexting?

Hyperlink

Newspaper | The New York Times
Date | 18.11.2015
Language | English
Country | U.S.
Topic Tags | school, sexting, threat, youth
Summary | The whole society is responsible for the next generation's sex education: schools, parents, media, religious communities, and so on. Because all these groups differ on the appropriate content of such sex education. Warnings about the dangers of sexting should be included but even adults sext irresponsibly so parents cannot be trusted with the responsibility to teach the next generation on how to handle themselves on new media. Sexting is dangerous to ruining one's reputation and one's "digital brand".
Image Description | N/A

Dumbing Down the Phone for Children

Hyperlink

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

Stop Your 'Dying,' It's Killing Me

Hyperlink

Newspaper | The New York Times
Date | 29.11.2015
Language | English
Country | U.S.
Topic Tags | texting, youth
Summary | Digital writing culture, be it texting or posting on social media, has developed a widespread obsession with grotesque exaggerations. An example would be the fading popularity of LOL while statements such as “I’m literally dying” have become commonplace to express hilarity. Other staples for expressing strong feelings towards something in texting are “feels”, “YAAASS”, or “I can’t even” among many others. Although hyperbole has a long history as a stylistic device, contemporary online culture seems to have reached new levels.
Image Description | Illustration of a skeleton sitting in a coffin and taking a selfie.
Image Tags | male(s), selfie

Page 1 of 1