Digital Discourse Database

Number of Posts: 150
Posts 141 - 150

Please, don't silence your cellphones

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Newspaper | Washington Post
Date | 16.4.2016
Language | English
Country | U.S.
Topic Tags | smartphone, technology-free, threat
Summary | AMC's entertainment chief executive commented that they are considering letting moviegoers use their smartphones in AMC theaters. The reasoning behind this statement being that it is no longer possible to tell young adults today to put away their smartphones for two hours. This statement was met with a lot of public anger about smartphones entering even the sanctity of the cinema. AMC quickly rectified the statement saying that texting will not be allowed in their theaters in the foreseeable future.
Image Description | Illustration of a (abstracted, faceless) movie theater audience on top of a huge smartphone screen.
Image Tags | female(s), male(s), smartphone

Married to Their Smartphones (Oh, and to Each Other, Too)

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Newspaper | The New York Times
Date | 30.10.2016
Language | English
Country | U.S.
Topic Tags | addiction, gender
Summary | Married couples increasingly report of marital disputes around smartphone use. Especially women feel devalued when their husbands give more attention to their smartphones rather than then. Marriage counsellors report that it is particularly problematic when spouses both use their smartphones in bed since it prevents emotional incimacy before going to sleep, as well as reducing the likelihood of physical intimacy.
Image Description | Illustration of a female and male smartphone on a marriage counselling couch.
Image Tags | emojis, smartphone, text

Field studies of the offspring

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Newspaper | Washington Post
Date | 31.5.2016
Language | English
Country | U.S.
Topic Tags | Facebook, smartphone, Snapchat, technology-free, youth
Summary | The research center conducts in depth interviews with today’s teenagers, the so-called Generation Z or digital natives, on behalf of various corporations. The aim of the study is to find out about this generation’s relationship with new technologies. They all value mobile/digital communication very highly, to the extent that many choose online colleges, online shopping, and home office work over actually having to physically go somewhere to study, work, or shop. They report of the abundance of messages each day and that they also highly value their offline hobbies, such as reading or knitting.
Image Description | Collage-like illustration of youths and online and offline activities.
Image Tags | female(s), male(s), smartphone, social media

Can Texting Fill an Empty Nest?

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Newspaper | The New York Times
Date | 17.9.2016
Language | English
Country | U.S.
Topic Tags | Facebook, social media, texting, youth
Summary | Many parents find themselves very lonely when their children leave the nest for college. New media have enabled parents to stay in touch with their children conveniently and cost-efficiently. Many parents report to text their children at college multiple times a day. Other parents use social media to keep an eye on the activities of their sons and daughters. The youths are split on which way of communicating with their parents they prefer – some would never want their parents to follow them on social media while others appreciate the low maintenance in just keeping parents updated like that.
Image Description | Illustration of a woman sitting in a youth’s rather empty bedroom.
Image Tags | female(s)

A boyfriend's flirty texts with other women: Are they a glitch or a pattern?

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Newspaper | Washington Post
Date | 4.10.2016
Language | English
Country | U.S.
Topic Tags | texting
Summary | Infidelity in texting is as hurtful as infidelity in person. A women laments about how her boyfriend texts flirtatiously with other women and how he somehow thought that was OK. They both check each other’s text messages regularly to maintain trust in the relationship. The flirtatious texting, even if it was just that and nothing else, was still perceived as very hurtful by the girlfriend.
Image Description | N/A

Emojis as art? Thumbs up from museum

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Newspaper | Los Angeles Times
Date | 26.10.2016
Language | English
Country | U.S.
Topic Tags | emojis
Summary | Emojis have become part of most people’s everyday routine. The little images help users express feelings that they could never express like that in writing. They also help bridge the gap between face-to-face interaction and texting because linguists confirm that 70% of face-to-face communication depends on body language and other non-verbal cues. The MoMA in New York has recognized the significant impact that emojis have had on the world of design, marketing, and also art and are hosting an exhibit with the original set of emojis from 1999.
Image Description | “The original set of emoji, designed by Shigetaka Kurita, and released to Japanese cellphone users in 1999 — now acquired by MoMA. (Museum of Modern Art).”
Image Tags | emojis

Branding the Smiley Face: Emoji as Corporate Tools

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Newspaper | The New York Times
Date | 21.6.2016
Language | English
Country | U.S.
Topic Tags | emojis, threat
Summary | Messenger designers are thinking about incorporating techniques to “emojify” one’s message. The keyboard would suggest appropriate emojis to replace certain words of the message. A central organization called Unicode, where all major smartphone companies have voting rights, decides on which new emojis will be added. This society is effectively deciding what is and what is not part of our visual language. The new emoji feature that Apple offers can hamper users' individual creativity and expression. By using the 'emojify' feature, we let big companies control people's ways to express themselves.
Image Description | Digital image of a collection of new emojis and photograph of an iPhone with a chat (with emojis) open.
Image Tags | emojis, smartphone

Why Handwriting Is Still Important

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Newspaper | The New York Times
Date | 31.8.2016
Language | English
Country | U.S.
Topic Tags | childhood, texting, word/writing
Summary | People are outraged after a journalist claims that handwriting is becoming a useless skill. Opponents are referencing instances where writing is unavoidable, such as signing a legal document, or is more appropriate, such as writing love letters or letters of condolence. Learning to write longhand is also very important for children to develop various skills.
Image Description | Black and white staged photograph from Getty: hand holding a pen and writing on a piece of paper.
Image Tags | hand(s)

The end of reflection

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Newspaper | The New York Times
Date | 12.6.2016
Language | English
Country | U.S.
Topic Tags | addiction, brain, smartphone, threat
Summary | Because virtually everyone carries a smartphone with them all day, all previously unfilled down-time is now filled with looking at notifications, text-messaging, browsing social media, etc. These little periods of unoccupation were important for self-reflection and introspection rather than tweeting every mundane thought. Our brains are capable of changing according to our media use and we are unaware of just how intensively we use digital media.
Image Description | Illustration of the “Thinker”-Statue looking at a smartphone and illustration of a landscape with people chasing after smartphones.
Image Tags | female(s), male(s), smartphone

A Full Stop for Periods? Okay. Fine.

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Newspaper | The New York Times
Date | 10.6.2016
Language | English
Country | U.S.
Topic Tags | punctuation, texting, youth
Summary | Linguist David Crystal describes how the period of full stop punctuation mark is no longer used routinely in instant messaging. Because messages are usually short single-sentence fragments, full stops are not necessary for a good understanding of text messages. Not only are full stops routinely omitted, they also have become a marker for discontent or insincerity which was even empirically confirmed in a study. Further, the repetition of punctuation marks is also more commonplace than adhering to formal (school) writing standards in text messaging. Abbreviations like “lol” which were very popular among youths in previous years have become outdated because adults have now started using them.
Image Description | Portrait of linguist David Crystal.
Image Tags | male(s)

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