Digital Discourse Database

Number of Posts: 10
Posts 1 - 10

The Facebook Breakup

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Newspaper | The New York Times
Date | 13.3.2016
Language | English
Country | U.S.
Topic Tags | (mental) health, addiction, Facebook, research/study, threat
Summary | Many studies have been published about whether Facebook makes us happy or unhappy. Studies with both conclusions exist. They agree that Facebook notifications can cause a hormone release that boosts feelings of happiness for a moment, like all other addictive substances. Facebook has teams working on solustions on how to deal with accounts of users who pass away or how to assist people with avoiding their ex-partners on Facebook.
Image Description | An illustration of a vacuum cleaner vacuuming a broken heart, a team of designers working at Facebook, motivational posters from Facebook, and a smartphone showing the post-breakup settings Facebook offers.
Image Tags | Facebook, female(s), male(s), smartphone, text

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)

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

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

Scary clown rumors, threats feed hysteria, leading to school lockdowns, arrests

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Newspaper | Washington Post
Date | 6.10.2016
Language | English
Country | U.S.
Topic Tags | (mental) health, law, school, Snapchat, social media, threat
Summary | In the weeks running up to Halloween, many schools and colleges have had attack scares. Students heard over Snapchat or Yik Yak or some other social media platform that a clown was on the prowl at their school/college. These theats always ended up being false but students were worried and so were parents. Schools have to take such threats seriously. The police are being very clear that there are legal repercussions for false attack threats.
Image Description | Clown video and scary clown masks.

Facebook touts AI benefits as job risks loom

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Newspaper | USA Today
Date | 1.12.2016
Language | English
Country | U.S.
Topic Tags | (mental) health, artificial intelligence, threat
Summary | Facebook and other corporations are trying to improve artificial intelligence's image in society. Many people are afraid of it, that it will take away their jobs, or do not trust it with high-stakes tasks such as flying planes, overseeing children, or medical diagnoses. It is likely that all of these things will happen and a consortium of corporations of the digital world are trying to lift the stigma off of these facts. After all, we are already trusting artificial intelligence to remind us to take medication, to guide us through traffic while avoiding traffic jams, and so on.
Image Description | Portraits of two digital experts.
Image Tags | male(s)

Creating a Healthy Relationship With Technology

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Newspaper | Huffington Post
Date | 8.11.2016
Language | English
Country | U.S.
Topic Tags | (mental) health, addiction, smartphone, technology-free, threat
Summary | Psychological tests confirm that the mere presence of a smartphone, no matter who it belongs to or whether it is ringing, decreases one's level of empathy for others. In light of this sobering fact we must make an effort to develop a healthy relationship with our smartphones because meany of us are indeed somewhere on the addiction spectrum. The author has experimented with deleting all social media and e-mail apps off of her smartphone: though it is difficult at first, and also enlightening about one's level of addiction, this step has ultimately decluttered her mind and calendar. She still has a 24 hour response rate to emails, which is acceptable. She is now trying to implement technology-free meetings at her workplace.
Image Description | A 'deathtostock' (image bank) photograph of a smartphone on a table with decorations in the blurry background.

Dear Doc, :-(

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Newspaper | The New York Times
Date | 18.1.2016
Language | English
Country | U.S.
Topic Tags | (mental) health, texting, youth
Summary | Physicians report that their children who are away at college frequently text them to ask about symptoms such as throat aches or send them images of their swollen toes, turf burns, or their roommates' rashes. Given the fact that today's teenagers conduct an increasing amount of their social interactions over their smartphones, it is not surprising that they would seek medical counsel through that medium as well. Hospitals are already looking into possibilities of diagnosing certain ailments via digital communication in order to expand medical coverage to remote areas.
Image Description | Illustration of a smartphone taking an x-ray of a foot.
Image Tags | hand(s), smartphone

Cellphones really are addictive. Here's why.

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Newspaper | Washington Post
Date | 8.2.2016
Language | English
Country | U.S.
Topic Tags | (mental) health, addiction, smartphone, technology-free
Summary | The author reports of her journey of trying to reduce her smartphone use. She decided to start regulating her new media use in her everyday life because she knows the amazing feeling of being free of the internet for a while. Her family takes a technology free vacation every year. Smartphones attract our gaze in an addictive way, similar to casino slot machinces, studies confirm. Exessive smartphone use causes health issues such as sleep deprivation, high blood pressure, and car accidents.
Image Description | iStock photograph of a surprised man looking at his smartphone while lying in bed.
Image Tags | male(s), smartphone

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