Digital Discourse Database

Number of Posts: 34
Posts 11 - 20

Dem digitalen Lachen auf der Spur

(On the tracks of the digital laugh)

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Newspaper | Tages-Anzeiger
Date | 19.8.2015
Language | German
Country | Switzerland
Topic Tags | Facebook, gender, youth
Summary | The article reports about another article in the The New Yorker by Sarah Larson who did a quantitative study about how Americans convey laughter in their digital communication. They collected data from Facebook comment sections and analyzed them. Different ways to communicate laughter online co-occur with different demographics: younger people and women use more emojis to indicate laughter and men and older people do this more verbally by writing “haha” or similar verbal tokens
Image Description | N/A

Snapchat führt Wiederholung ein

(Snapchat introduces a repeat function)

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Newspaper | Appenzeller Zeitung
Date | 17.9.2015
Language | German
Country | Switzerland
Topic Tags | privacy, Snapchat
Summary | Snapchat, which is notoriously known for the self-destruction of its content, has introduced a repeat function. The new function is said to be available once a day per user and is being tested in the US only for now. If users want to see more repeats, they can pay $0.99 and get to watch unlimited replays. Considering that Snapchat has had safety breaches in the past, this move is quite odd because it turns the main component of Snapchat around.
Image Description | N/A

Facebook will das Internet sein

(Facebook wants to be the internet)

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Newspaper | Tages-Anzeiger
Date | 3.12.2015
Language | German
Country | Switzerland
Topic Tags | Facebook, Snapchat, threat
Summary | In the last decade, Facebook has grown an unprecedented group of users. The text compares Facebook to Yahoo who wanted to buy Facebook for only $1 bio back in 2006. According to the author, Facebook, like Yahoo was, is huge right now but increasingly boring. Like Yahoo, Facebook is diversifying its assets including the purchase of WhatsApp and Instagram. Now Snapchat’s increasing popularity is threatening to replace Facebook.
Image Description | N/A

Im Digital-Detox-Camp sind Smartphones tabu

(Smartphones are taboo in digital detox camps)

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Newspaper | 20 Minuten
Date | 23.7.2015
Language | German
Country | Switzerland
Topic Tags | addiction, smartphone, technology-free
Summary | Many people feel the need to restrict their technology use by taking a technology free or digital ‘detox’ holiday. Some tourist destinations already offer specific technology free accommodations, f.i. a monastery in Germany and a camp near Silicon Valley in California. Visitors are told to paint rather than instagram and talk to people rather than tweet. Ironically, these technology free spaces have become a luxury.
Image Description | Series of ten photographs potraying young people at digital detox camps.
Image Tags | female(s), male(s)

Studenten können nicht mehr richtig schreiben

(Students cannot write properly anymore)

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Newspaper | 20 Minuten
Date | 21.1.2015
Language | German
Country | Switzerland
Topic Tags | language threat, school, spelling, texting, youth
Summary | Students' writing skills are poorer than in previous years. It may be due to the fact that elementary schools no longer correct every spelling mistake in first and second grade but rather value content over form. Another reason that can explain students' lower writing skills is new media use. Most of young people's writing and reading is done through new media nowadays, and informal writing is prevalent in those digital spheres. The increasing informalization of language on social media is seen as a threat to our language.
Image Description | Photograph taken from behind of an elementary classroom with children.
Image Tags | female(s), male(s), school

Schüler ärgern sich über offizielles Handyverbot

(Students are upset about official mobile phone prohibition)

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Newspaper | 20 Minuten
Date | 14.8.2015
Language | German
Country | Switzerland
Topic Tags | school, smartphone, technology-free
Summary | Several schools in Switzerland have prohibited the use of mobile phones inside their buildings. Educators would like the students to interact with each other face-to-face rather than stare at their smartphones. Students are very upset, and media experts claim that schools need to adapt to changing times and teach a pragmatic use of new media.
Image Description | Photograph of a school playground where young people/students are walking.
Image Tags | female(s), male(s), school

Wir schauen täglich 88-mal aufs Handy

(We look at our mobile phones 88 times a day)

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Newspaper | 20 Minuten
Date | 13.10.2015
Language | German
Country | Switzerland
Topic Tags | addiction, smartphone
Summary | We spend 2.5 hours a day using our smartphones, and young people spend 3 hours a day. We look at our phones 88 times a day on average because the expectation of a message releases dopamin into our blood flow. The same mechanism causes gambling addiction with slot machines. We need to make an actual effort to make room for smartphone and internet free time in order to stay focused on the task at hand. Otherwise we run the risk of suffering from a ‘digital burnout’.
Image Description | Series of three photographs: portrait of interviewee, hands holding smartphones, and child using his smartphone in bed.
Image Tags | hand(s), male(s), smartphone

Wer nur auf Facebook lebt, stirbt früher

(Those who only live on Facebook die sooner)

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Newspaper | 20 Minuten
Date | 21.10.2015
Language | German
Country | Switzerland
Topic Tags | Facebook, threat
Summary | Canadian psychologist Susan Pinker says that people who spend more time on Facebook than actually interacting with people face-to-face do not live as long. Face-to-face interaction enables us to develop intimate relationships and friendships that significantly increase our happiness, which in turn increases our life expectancy. New media can create a disparity between how many friends and social interactions one has online versus offline. Offline social interactions are however much richer and more important for a good psychological health.
Image Description | Photograph of a woman looking at her smartphone.
Image Tags | female(s), smartphone

Versetzt Whatsapp dem E-Mail den Todesstoss?

(Is WhatsApp giving the e-mail the death blow?)

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Newspaper | Der Bund
Date | 23.10.2015
Language | German
Country | Switzerland
Topic Tags | email, threat, WhatsApp
Summary | A rumor is going around that WhatsApp is planning to introduce a document sharing function into the app. This way, Word or PDF documents could be sent through WhatsApp rather than other channels. This might mean the death of emails, a media that already counts as old-fashioned.
Image Description | Photograph of a hand holding a smartphone where there are four social media icons.
Image Tags | hand(s), smartphone, social media

Schreiben: Die Handschrift verkümmert

(Writing: Handwriting is hampered)

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Newspaper | Neue Zürcher Zeitung (NZZ)
Date | 1.3.2015
Language | German
Country | Switzerland
Topic Tags | language threat, research/study, texting, word/writing
Summary | We are living in an age writing renaissance; no generation before us has written this profusely. We are always texting someone or updating our social media statuses and yet, ironically, we are losing a staple of writing culture: our handwriting. Researchers are debating whether this is a problem or not, but the fact is that many neuroscientific studies show that humans learn better while writing by hand rather than typing. The abbreviated, informal, emoticon-filled writing style of WhatsApp and co. may be corrupting writing culture at large.
Image Description | Photograph of a young child (girl) typing on a laptop.
Image Tags | computer/laptop, female(s)

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