Digital Discourse Database

Number of Posts: 58
Posts 11 - 20

Benefits of Study Abroad: ‘My Students Return Transformed’

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Newspaper | The New York Times
Date | 12.4.2016
Language | English
Country | U.S.
Topic Tags | diversity, selfie, smartphone, threat, youth
Summary | In response to the article “Study Abroad’s Seven Deadly Sins”, this university educator agrees that inappropriate selfies and ever-present smartphones are an issue among study abroad students. She however emphasized that such articles are not helpful at this time of heightened anxiety about rising nationalism and that students must instead be encouraged more strongly to go study abroad.
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Study Abroad's Seven Deadly Sins

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Newspaper | The New York Times
Date | 8.4.2016
Language | English
Country | U.S.
Topic Tags | politeness, selfie, smartphone, threat, youth
Summary | The seven deadly sins of studying abroad incude two sins related to the digital realm. First, study abroad students should at best not take a smartphone with them. It will keep them way to connected with their peers at home and the fear of missing out on activities at home will make them text with friends from home rather than meet new people in the foreign country they are supposed to be experiencing. Second, stay abroad students should be conscious of how they take their selfies - they can easily be disrespectful depending on the place and the pose one strikes.
Image Description | Colorful number 1 through 7.

Teenage Days, Streamed For Coins

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Newspaper | The New York Times
Date | 7.6.2017
Language | English
Country | U.S.
Topic Tags | smartphone, social media, video communication, virtual reality, youth
Summary | 15-year-old Bryce Xavier is a star on Live.ly (a live streaming app). Bryce spends every day among a virtual crowd of fans (mostly teenage girls). For instance, he can broadcast his lunch at Olive Garden with his mom. Bryce became very popular on the platform; as a consequence, he dropped out of school and started homeschooling so that he would have enough time for Live.ly. Live streaming has become popular because it is seen as more authentic than other social media platforms. Despite many advantages, the platform can also render human interaction shallow.
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Closing the generation app

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Newspaper | Washington Post
Date | 5.3.2016
Language | English
Country | Switzerland
Topic Tags | digitized education, smartphone, youth
Summary | Diane Howard is 71 and she's taking a new class: an introduction to smartphones for retired people. Christian Magnuson is 16 and he's the teacher. Older people didn't grow up with smartphones, and they would like to know how to use them. For instance, Mary Ellen Saville, 69, would like to know more about the danger zones related to smartphone use. After a 90-minute session, the Christian's students knew more about selfies, text messages, ringtones, and Siri.
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Have Smartphones Destroyed a Generation?

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Newspaper | The Atlantic
Date | 0.9.2017
Language | English
Country | U.S.
Topic Tags | (mental) health, addiction, cyberbullying, gender, smartphone, social media, threat, youth
Summary | A US study has conducted a large survey among teenagers and found out that smartphones are impacting their lives significantly. They sleep less, go out less, date less, are less likely to get (someone) pregnant, feel left out more, have more mental health issues, etc. Especially girls are more likely to feel left out because they spend more time on social media and because girls tend to bully each other by ostracization which is very easily achievable in cyberspace. Also, the teenage suicide rate has surpassed the teenage homicide rate for the first time in history.
Image Description | Two illustrations showing a woman falling with a tablet and a woman lying in bed at night looking at her smartphone. Charts showing the results from the US survey.
Image Tags | chart, female(s), smartphone, tablet

Generation Blödphone?

(Generation Dumbphone?)

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Newspaper | Der Bund
Date | 11.8.2017
Language | German
Country | Switzerland
Topic Tags | addiction, research/study, smartphone, threat, youth
Summary | A US study has conducted surveys among teenagers asking them how often they go out without their parents, whether they date or have had sex, how much they sleep , etc. The results show that teenagers go out/date less, sleep less, and have sex later in life since the advent of smartphones. Swiss media psychologist Gregor Waller criticizes the study because it bases its conclusions on mere correlation. It leaves out other important developments in the US since 2007 like the financial crisis. An equivalent Swiss study does not show similar results. Most Swiss teenagers continue to have a rich social life despite smartphones. Only about 10% of Swiss teenagers are at risk of smartphone addiction.
Image Description | Graphs showing results of the US study and a portrait of the interviewee (Swiss psychologist Gregor Waller).
Image Tags | chart, male(s)

Heute: Dazugehören

(Today: Belonging)

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Newspaper | Die Zeit
Date | 16.8.2016
Language | German
Country | Germany
Topic Tags | (mental) health, smartphone, social media, WhatsApp, youth
Summary | The internet has brought humanity, especially younger generations a lot of stress. A lot more information is now available, for instance about what one could do, and that leads to a fear of missing out on something. People constantly have to check their smartphones so as not to miss a new viral video or a new thread in their WhatsApp chat about changing group hangout plans.
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Die Jungs von heute können einfach nicht mehr flirten

(The boys of today just can't flirt anymore)

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Newspaper | Welt
Date | 7.7.2016
Language | German
Country | Germany
Topic Tags | online dating, research/study, smartphone, social media, youth
Summary | Young people nowadays cannot flirt anymore. They are constantly tied to their smartphones - 57 hours per week a recent study says - and do not pay attention to what is going on around them. They are more comfortable communicating via a medium than face-to-face. Many girls lament on social media how there are no available boys. Young boys should look up form their phones more often - the girls would be grateful.
Image Description | Getty images of young men and women with and without smartphones.
Image Tags | female(s), male(s), smartphone

Junge Revoluzzer

(Young revolutionaries)

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Newspaper | Welt
Date | 1.7.2016
Language | German
Country | Germany
Topic Tags | computer programming, emojis, privacy, smartphone, youth
Summary | Older generations always complain about how the youth today is virtually tied to their smartphones and Computers and how they do not Show much interest for anything else. They have however developed fantastic programming skills and business ideas. The finalists of a start-up competition in Berlin have come up with various ideas: coffee mugs indicating the optimal drinking temperature with emojis, computer encryption software to protect one's privacy, and many other ideas.
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Junge schreiben - mehr als je zuvor

(Youths write - more than ever)

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Newspaper | Appenzeller Zeitung
Date | 29.1.2016
Language | German
Country | Switzerland
Topic Tags | code-switching, language threat, research/study, school, smartphone, social media, spelling, texting, word/writing, youth
Summary | There is a public hysteria about how youths are no longer capable of spelling correctly or writing appropriately and skillfully. All this is seen to be caused by new media such as smartphones. BUt young people today write far more than previous generations did: they post on social media and text every day. The only difference is that this writing culture is very informal and colloquial. Researchers however assume that one cannot simply state that this spoils their writing skills generally, most students are easily capable of code-switching from informal registers to a formal register appropriate for school.
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