Digital Discourse Database

Number of Posts: 12
Posts 1 - 10

So unterschiedlich kann man Liebe per SMS gestehen

(There are many ways to confess one's love via text message)

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Newspaper | Welt
Date | 12.10.2015
Language | German
Country | Germany
Topic Tags | abbreviations, emojis, punctuation, texting
Summary | There is a lot of ways in which one can write "I love you" in a text message and all of them mean something slightly different. Punctiation can transform the whole tone of the statement. Abbreviation of the three infamous words can make it less serious - which can be a good or a bad thing depending on context. Emojis are complicated and ambiguous.
Image Description | Photograph of heart ballons with letters flying into the sky.

Pourquoi il ne faut surtout pas finir ses textos par un point

(Why we shouldn't end a text with a period)

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Newspaper | Le Figaro
Date | 10.12.2015
Language | French
Country | France
Topic Tags | punctuation, research/study, texting
Summary | The University of Binghamton conducted a study and revealed that text messages that end with a period are considered less sincere and mean. The exclamation mark is seen as a more sincere option. The period has an expressive function.
Image Description | Photograph of a woman looking at her phone and looking perplexed.
Image Tags | female(s), smartphone

Per SMS-Alarm ans Obligatorische

(Text message alarm to remind of compulsory (shooting practice))

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Newspaper | Tagblatt (Thurgau)
Date | 21.5.2015
Language | German
Country | Switzerland
Topic Tags | texting
Summary | Frauenfeld’s shooting club president, Damian Schlatter, has launched a text message alarm service to remind military recruits of their obligatory shooting practice. Because fines for missed shooting practices are very high, this text message alarm is very popular. This is also a good way to better the shooting club’s image as being for old people only and transporting it into the 21st century.
Image Description | Photograph in black and white of Damian Schlatter.
Image Tags | male(s)

Was It Something I Texted?

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Newspaper | The New York Times
Date | 22.11.2015
Language | English
Country | U.S.
Topic Tags | misunderstanding, sexting, texting
Summary | A woman waits for her current love interest to text back. The night before she had sent him a text with sexual innuendo and he hadn't texted back until morning. Now she is obsessing over checking her phone constantly to see if he texted back. She starts over-interpreting how he may have misunderstood or what might have tipped him off. She concludes that, ultimately, it would be better if they figured out this early that they are no good match. Finally, he texts her back.
Image Description | Illustration of a woman blow-drying her hair with the smartphone laying nearby.
Image Tags | female(s), smartphone

Want your texts to appear sincere? DON’T use punctuation: Researchers say full stops make messages appear less trustworthy

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Newspaper | Mail Online
Date | 8.12.2015
Language | English
Country | UK
Topic Tags | language threat, punctuation, research/study, spelling, texting
Summary | A study revealed that text messages that end with a period are considered as less sincere. In text messages, people use punctuation and emoticons to convey emotions and social cues. Also, the language of text messages has a serious impact on the English language. New words (e.g. LOL) have been added to the dictionary, people don't use hyphens anymore due to laziness, deep thoughts and ideas are summed up in 140 characters, and our smartphones correct our spelling so we don't have to learn how to spell words.
Image Description | Photograph of a woman using her phone.
Image Tags | female(s), smartphone

Stop Your 'Dying,' It's Killing Me

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Newspaper | The New York Times
Date | 29.11.2015
Language | English
Country | U.S.
Topic Tags | texting, youth
Summary | Digital writing culture, be it texting or posting on social media, has developed a widespread obsession with grotesque exaggerations. An example would be the fading popularity of LOL while statements such as “I’m literally dying” have become commonplace to express hilarity. Other staples for expressing strong feelings towards something in texting are “feels”, “YAAASS”, or “I can’t even” among many others. Although hyperbole has a long history as a stylistic device, contemporary online culture seems to have reached new levels.
Image Description | Illustration of a skeleton sitting in a coffin and taking a selfie.
Image Tags | male(s), selfie

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

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)

Die iPad-Kindheit vs. Baumhaus

(The iPad-childhood vs. tree house)

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Newspaper | St. Galler Tagblatt
Date | 3.11.2015
Language | German
Country | Switzerland
Topic Tags | childhood, texting, youth
Summary | Children today grow up very differently than one or two decades ago. Many children are entertained on digital playgrounds: games on tablets or smartphones. For youth today it is no longer extraordinary to receive 200 messages from 30 group chats every day.
Image Description | Photograph of a yellow notepad with a white pen on top of it.

WhatsAppitis

(WhatsAppitis)

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Newspaper | Appenzeller Zeitung
Date | 15.4.2015
Language | German
Country | Switzerland
Topic Tags | (mental) health, texting, WhatsApp
Summary | A myriad of new illnesses named after new technologies are reported in the media and in scientific journals. WhatsAppitis, for instance, is the tendinitis of the thumb. There is also the so-called text-neck and many other more or less serious neologisms like that.
Image Description | Photograph of the author Peter Abegglen.
Image Tags | male(s)

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