Digital Discourse Database

Number of Posts: 48
Posts 41 - 48

'Everyone could know what I was doing': the millennials not using social media

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Newspaper | The Guardian
Date | 17.3.2016
Language | English
Country | UK
Topic Tags | smartphone, social media, technology-free, youth
Summary | The majority of millenials are active on social media; those who are not explain why they decided not to have a social media account. Although the young interviewees admit that social network sites are useful to stay in touch with people far away and to organize parties and other events, they also think that they can be detrimental. For example, some of the interviewees feel uncomfortable with the fact that people share intimate details about their lives online, and with the fact that everyone knows everything about other people. Also, some people think that it is a waste of time and that it is useless.
Image Description | Series of five photographs representing the interviewees.
Image Tags | female(s), male(s)

Oculus VR: ‘Classrooms are broken. Kids don’t learn the best by reading books’

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Newspaper | The Guardian
Date | 3.11.2015
Language | English
Country | UK
Topic Tags | smartphone, virtual reality
Summary | Palmer Luckey thinks that virtual reality is going to be ubiquitous in the next decades, which is a good thing according to him. Not everyone can afford to travel to Washington D.C. or Paris, but virtual reality will give people the opportunity to experience things such as long trips overseas. Luckey also thinks that virtual reality will replace smartphones; we won't need them anymore. With virtual reality, we'll be able to experience physical intimacy with people far away, for instance. It will the change our relationships.
Image Description | Photograph of Palmer Luckey, and video of his talk.
Image Tags | male(s)

How English Became English by Simon Horobin review – ‘OMG’ was first used 100 years ago

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Newspaper | The Guardian
Date | 31.3.2016
Language | English
Country | UK
Topic Tags | word/writing
Summary | Simon Horobin's new book is about language change. He traces the history of the English language while explaining the notions of language standard and prescriptivism. Horobin argues that some linguistic forms such as "OMG" are not new; for instance, the acronym OMG first appeared in 1917. Horobin also praises the possibility of being linguistically creative, which is something new technologies offer.
Image Description | Photograph of British comedian Jack Whitehall wearing a Hooters t-shirt and a bra.
Image Tags | male(s)

Always practise safe text: the German traffic light for smartphone zombies

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Newspaper | The Guardian
Date | 29.4.2016
Language | English
Country | UK
Topic Tags | smartphone, threat
Summary | The word "smombie" (smartphone + zombie) was recently added to the German vocabulary. It refers to a person walking in the street and using his/her phone. People who do that are oblivious and can cause accidents. As a result, a couple of German cities have invested money in the creation of new traffic lights. In the US, some cities have buses that "talk" and alert pedestrians. In China, you can also find streets with "phone lanes" (as opposed to bicycle lanes for example).
Image Description | Series of three photograph and one video: woman holding a phone next to a tram, tram stop with people, Chinese kids walking on a "phone lane", and street interview of several people in German.
Image Tags | female(s), male(s), smartphone

Darian Leader: how technology is changing our hands

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Newspaper | The Guardian
Date | 21.5.2016
Language | English
Country | UK
Topic Tags | addiction
Summary | Today's digital era is marked by the effects of new technologies. For instance, space and time do not have as clear boundaries as before, and relationships have changed too, whether it is a good or a bad thing. One of the ways in which new technologies impact us is related to the use of our hands. We use our hands and fingers for new movements, and as a consequence, more people suffer from hand problems now. We have always used our hands and kept them busy; they are a very important part of us. As some movies exemplify, our hands sometimes act without our will. The same thing happens with new technologies; it is almost as if we cannot help touching our digital devices. Hands are agents with power. When people are addicted to something (e.g. smartphone), they cannot control themselves.
Image Description | Series of five photographs: Michelangelo's "Creation of Adam", poster of the movie "The Hand", screenshot of Elsa from the movie "Frozen", keyboard with silhouette of a hand, screenshot of a scene of "The Hunger Games".
Image Tags | female(s), hand(s), male(s)

Sugata Mitra – the professor with his head in the cloud

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Newspaper | The Guardian
Date | 7.6.2016
Language | English
Country | UK
Topic Tags | childhood, digitized education, research/study, school
Summary | Professor Sugata Mitra's educational methods have not always been well received because they are not "traditional". Mitra predicts that the internet will be everywhere and in our heads, and that traditional examinations will disappear. It will be difficult to ban the use of internet in exams, for instance. People will be even more dependent on their phones; they will need it for skills such as reading. Mitra's method is called Sole (self-organised learning environment). Children need to collaborate in small groups and do research on computers. The method proved successful, but more research is needed.
Image Description | Series of three photograph; Mitra holding a book, Mitra interacting with four pupils on a computer, and portrait of Ivan Illich.
Image Tags | computer/laptop, male(s)

Eight things that will happen on your week of digital detox

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Newspaper | The Guardian
Date | 26.8.2016
Language | English
Country | UK
Topic Tags | (mental) health, addiction, technology-free
Summary | We are so addicted to our digital devices that we feel terrible when we have to live without them. We don't want to miss out on things that happen around us (good and bad news). A lot can happen in the world in one week (e.g new prime minister, wars, death of a famous person), so we could miss a lot without our digital devices. The author of this article went camping and found herself in an internet-free zone; she felt really anxious and started thinking that maybe someone she knew had died or that an important news event had happened. Without internet she would not know. Moreover, without internet people don't have virtual relationships; they have to communicate with words and body language. Despite all this, the author found that digital detox was good.
Image Description | Photograph taken from behind of a man sitting on the rocks of a canyon.
Image Tags | male(s)

"I worried people would forget me": can teenagers survive without social media?

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Newspaper | The Guardian
Date | 18.6.2016
Language | English
Country | UK
Topic Tags | (mental) health, addiction, smartphone, social media, technology-free, youth
Summary | Interview with several teenagers or "digital natives" that had to talk about their experience of living without social media for a few days. Were they able to do it? Teenagers spend a lot of time online everyday and are almost addicted to their digital devices; they often sleep with their smartphone. The experience was well received; the participants said that it was a positive experience (they felt happier, more productive, and slept better). Some were able to live without their phone for a couple days and some for a couple weeks. However, they wouldn't be able to do it longer. They like being available all the time, and without a phone they felt that they were missing out on a lot of things, especially with their friends.
Image Description | Series of seven photographs portraying the young interviewees doing some sort of non-digital activities (sports, cooking, music etc.)
Image Tags | female(s), male(s)

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