Digital Discourse Database

Number of Posts: 15
Posts 11 - 15

How To Completely Unplug From Your Smartphone For An Entire Day

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Newspaper | Huffington Post
Date | 3.6.2015
Language | English
Country | U.S.
Topic Tags | addiction, research/study, technology-free
Summary | We are all a little addicted to our technological devices and are so used to spending all spare time we have on our smartphones. It is however greatly beneficial to our body and mind to unplug completely for a day. We may not be able to fathom what we could do will all that time without technological devices but the author provides a long list of possible activities: cooking a well-balanced breakfast, reading an actual print newspaper or book, exercising, cleaning up, taking up a craft, playing with one's pets, meeting friends, or going on a day trip to explore.
Image Description | Getty images of people doing the suggested activities and one of a person photographing a sunset on their smartphone (described by tags).
Image Tags | camera, female(s), hand(s), smartphone

The five lessons I learned from breaking my smartphone

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Newspaper | The Guardian
Date | 24.1.2017
Language | English
Country | UK
Topic Tags | brain, research/study, smartphone, technology-free
Summary | After dropping her smartphone in the sink, the author lives without one for six weeks and discovers that she sleeps better without a smartphone, enjoys being unavailable, few things need to be tended to urgently, that she spends less money, and her memory suffers from having a smartphone. Studies have also confirmed that it is detrimental to one's sleep pattern to sleep next to a smartphone because notifications release dopamin in the brain similarly to a nicotine or recreational drug addiction. She values the time she now has to just not be available for messages from work because we tend to respond to any and all messages as if they were urgent when really they are not. The author reports to spend less money because she can no longer do online shopping on the go without a smartphone. She has also realized how dependent on Google she has become. Neurological studies confirm that our brains are adapting to the constant accessibility of all information by remembering how to find it and googling again if necessary rather than remembering the little snippets of information.
Image Description | Getty image of a woman's hands holding a smartphone.
Image Tags | female(s), hand(s), smartphone

Sexting is the most popular form of sex in the virtual world

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Newspaper | Bollywood Country
Date | 3.3.2014
Language | English
Country | India
Topic Tags | research/study, sexting
Summary | New statistics from a CyberCompare.com study suggest that sexual encounters via virtual media, particularly sexting, constitute one third of all sexual encounters. Over one thousand people over the age of 18 participated. The study further shows that sexting is particularly popular for long-distance relationships or fo busy, conflicting work schedules and that most people do it from home while 8% have already sexted from their workplace.
Image Description | Photograph of a man taking a selfie with an old cell phone of himself kissing a woman.
Image Tags | cell phone, female(s), hand(s), male(s), selfie

La letra, con ‘smartphone’, entra

(The letter enters with smartphone (pun with "la letra con sangre entra"))

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Newspaper | El País
Date | 27.10.2014
Language | Spanish
Country | Spain
Topic Tags | grammar, research/study, social media, spelling, texting, threat, youth
Summary | Spelling and grammar are having a hard time in today's society; there seems to be too much lenience with regards to writing rules, which may be due to an incorrect use of new technologies. People should know when it is appropriate to use a specific register. It is okay to write a text message with abbreviations as long as users are able to change register and adapt their writing in an exam for example. A professor in Valladolid claims that handwriting as opposed to digital writing can be the solution to spelling and grammar mistakes. Social media and the way we write on those networks have a major impact on our writing skills. A study showed that the mistakes young people make in their writing assignments come from our habit to constantly write quickly and be spontaneous on social media. Those mistakes are mostly due to a lack of attention. The study also showed a positive aspect: with social media, we write more.
Image Description | Photograph of a group of four young people using their smartphone.
Image Tags | female(s), hand(s), male(s), smartphone

Jeder 7. Teenager arbeitet besser dank Multitasking

(Every seventh teenager works better thanks to multi-tasking)

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Newspaper | 20 Minuten
Date | 24.10.2014
Language | German
Country | Switzerland
Topic Tags | brain, research/study
Summary | An American study shows that 85% of students cannot focus well when multitasking. The participants in the study were solving cognitive tests on a computer, listening to music, and checking their messages. Interestingly 15% of students focused better while multitasking and these 15% had previously been assessed as students with expert/experienced multitaskers. The researchers assume that it is because digital natives’ brains have adapted to new media.
Image Description | Photograph of a teenage girl using her phone; the shot does not show her face entirely but focuses on the phone.
Image Tags | female(s), hand(s), smartphone

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