Digital Discourse Database

Number of Posts: 77
Posts 41 - 50

Britain's iPhone generation might be tech savvy but they don't know how to change a lightbulb

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Newspaper | Mirror
Date | 21.3.2017
Language | English
Country | UK
Topic Tags | research/study, threat, youth
Summary | The younger generations have trouble doing simple household tasks like changing a light bulb, bleeding a radiator, or putting up a wallpaper. They are however far more competent in using new technologies. Some run to their parents when they need something fixed around the house but the parent generation also runs to the younger one when they need help with their technological devices.
Image Description | Getty images of a woman holding a smartphone and of a man changing a light bulb.
Image Tags | female(s), male(s), smartphone

People who swear a lot are more likely to be honest, study finds

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Newspaper | Mirror
Date | 18.1.2017
Language | English
Country | UK
Topic Tags | Facebook, politeness, research/study
Summary | Researchers found out that people who cuss more are more likely to be honest. If they do not filter their language to please other people, they are less likely to filter the content too. The study analysed thousands of Facebook posts and found that Facebook users in the north east of the US are more prone to use expletives in their posts while users from the south use less swear words. Those who cussed on Facebook also used a lexicon indicating honesty (such words as "I" and "me").
Image Description | Getty image of a woman crossing her fingers behind her back and a Reuters image of Donald Trump.
Image Tags | female(s), hand(s), male(s)

'Mob rule' drives trolls more than anonymity

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Newspaper | Metro
Date | 11.5.2017
Language | English
Country | UK
Topic Tags | politeness, research/study, social media
Summary | Researchers have found out that commenters online are more influenced by the general tone of a comment space than by anonymity. Thus if people post in a comment section where the general tone is offensive and aggressive they are likely to conform - no matter whether they are anonymous or whether they have to give their Facebook information. Similarly, if a forum has a respectful general tone, new commenters are likely to follow suit.
Image Description | N/A

Digital friends making you lonely? Here are 9 things to do other than check Facebook

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Newspaper | Telegraph
Date | 2.3.2017
Language | English
Country | UK
Topic Tags | (mental) health, Facebook, research/study, social media
Summary | Recent statistics say that more young people feel lonely than old people - despite those active social media lives. Psychologists are eager to explain that social media activity cannot replace real human companionship. There are many things one can do to exit the social media anxiety habit: joing a class or club too meet new people or to see good friends on a regular basis, have phone calls with friends, spend weekends with friends, learn to be happy while being alone sometimes - this can be achieved by meditation and mindfulness.
Image Description | A series of Alamy images showing a woman using a smartphone in bed, a woman holding a smartphone with a laptop in the background, and various images of social activities with no technological devices (dinner, birthday party, wine drinking, gardening class) as well as a man using a laptop and smiling while talking on the phone and a woman meditating.
Image Tags | computer/laptop, female(s), hand(s), male(s), smartphone, WhatsApp

That time when ‘that time when’ took over the Internet #InstantNostalgia

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Newspaper | Washington Post
Date | 15.9.2016
Language | English
Country | U.S.
Topic Tags | hashtags, research/study, social media
Summary | It has become customary to frame anecdotal posts on social media with the phrase "that time when" or "that akward moment when". Sometimes it is even used to describe events that have just happened, even though it is a formulation that suggests an old memory. This linguistic strategy thereby creates an air of nostalgia around the memory and makes it iconic. Linguists suggest that the usage of the demonstrative "that" suggests that sender and receiver of the message have shared memories. This is why many celebrities use this construction to create a false sense of intimacy with their fans online.
Image Description | GIF of a woman taking a selfie and posting it to social media.
Image Tags | female(s), gifs, smartphone, social media

Gaymoji: A New Language for That Search

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Newspaper | The New York Times
Date | 14.3.2017
Language | English
Country | U.S.
Topic Tags | diversity, emojis, research/study, sexting
Summary | The dating app Grindr caters to gay men and is now adding specific emojis - called Gaymojis - to their app. They have noticed that 20% of the messages sent on their platform contain emojis so they are providing emojis specific to the gay dating experience such as a peach with a phone (= bootycall) or an eggplant with a ruler (= well endowed). One linguist says that emojis may take some pressure off of the content of the conversation. Instead of thinking of something to say, emojis just signal that 'I am here and I am interested'.
Image Description | Portrait of the Grindr owners, the Grindr office in LA, and some Gaymojis.
Image Tags | emojis, male(s)

The Complicated, Distressing Relationship Teens Have With The News

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Newspaper | Huffington Post
Date | 8.3.2017
Language | English
Country | U.S.
Topic Tags | misunderstanding, research/study, youth
Summary | Most youths get their news from their family, through the news media their parents consume, or through social media. The majority does not visit traditional news channels on their own initiative. Studies have shown that many youths cannot tell sponsored from editorial content. They are increasingly skeptical of news reports and at the same time unable to differentiate fake news or set valid news into a meaningful context.
Image Description | Silhouette of a person using a smartphone.
Image Tags | smartphone

Get Ready, Here Comes Generation Z

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Newspaper | Huffington Post
Date | 11.4.2017
Language | English
Country | U.S.
Topic Tags | brain, diversity, research/study, youth
Summary | The next generation consisting of people born between 1996-2012 is being researched so that college mentors know how to interact with them. This "Generation Z" has a short attention span of ca. 8 seconds, is very competent at multi-tasking, position themselves as global citizens interconnected with various people digitally, and have entrepreneurial ambitions with a strong preference for financial security over pursuing a passion.
Image Description | N/A

Facebook Could Be Associated With a Longer Life, Study Finds

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Newspaper | The New York Times
Date | 31.10.2017
Language | English
Country | U.S.
Topic Tags | (mental) health, Facebook, research/study
Summary | A recent study about longevity shows that moderate Facebook activity correlates with better health and hence a longer life. Previous research shows that an active social life in general (so offline) also correlates with longevity. Because the results however only attast to correlation and not necessarily to a causal connection, it could also be that healthier people are just more social online and offline and not that sociability has an effect on health. It has been confirmed that a rich social life makes people happier while excessive Facebook use leads to people being unhappy.
Image Description | Woman instructing old man using a computer.
Image Tags | computer/laptop, female(s), male(s)

The Raised Fist Emoji Is Social Media’s Resistance Symbol

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Newspaper | Huffington Post
Date | 7.2.2017
Language | English
Country | U.S.
Topic Tags | emojis, politics, research/study, social media, Twitter
Summary | Some researchers have analyzed which emojis are most often used in the recent protest hashtags on Twitter. The raised fist emoji comes up in all of them, particulartly when the tweet contains a word like "together" or a similar word marking community. Other popular emojis are the heart emoji, the American flag emoji, and the crying/laughing emoji. Depending on the tone of the hashtag, different emojis are more popular than others.
Image Description | The raised fist emoji and graphs and tables about the distribution of the different emojis in the protest hashtags.
Image Tags | chart, emojis, hashtag

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