Unit 3 — Digital Lives

Learning objectives Link to heading

• I can read a short essay on digital life and identify the writer’s stance and one nuance.
• I can use complex sentences with subordinate clauses (although, even though, while, whereas, given that).
• I can write a 200-word digital-life reflection.

curriculum framework (“Bildungsplan”) alignment Link to heading

• 3.3.1 Soziokulturelles Orientierungswissen / Themen
• 3.3.3.2 Leseverstehen
• 3.3.3.5 Schreiben
• 3.3.3.8 Verfügen über sprachliche Mittel – Grammatik
• 3.3.4 Text- und Medienkompetenz

(Source: https://www.bildungsplaene-bw.de/,Lde/LS/BP2016BW/ALLG/SEK1/E1)

Lead-in story Link to heading

Maja read an article in which the author claimed that digital life is now a redundant phrase, because life has, for nearly all the people she knows, become digital and offline at the same time, woven together rather than alternating. Maja agreed with most of this, disagreed with the for nearly all, and was annoyed by the certainty of the phrase redundant.

1. Activate Link to heading

Two-column scan. Board: digital life is … / digital life is not … — class fills four honest items under each.

2. Input Link to heading

Reading — Digital, Honestly Link to heading

The phrase ‘digital life’ is increasingly redundant. For most readers under 30, the digital and the offline are no longer alternating modes; they are woven together. While this can be a problem for attention, it is rarely the catastrophe older commentators describe. Even though there are real harms — the steep, well-documented effects on sleep, for instance — the picture is more local and more specific than ‘a generation ruined by phones’.

Grammar — complex sentences with subordinate clauses Link to heading

Concession (admitting a partial counter-point):

• Although the harms are real, the picture is more specific than the headlines suggest.
• Even though I agree with most of this, I object to the certainty.

Contrast:

• While this can be a problem for attention, it is rarely a catastrophe.
• Whereas older commentators see ruin, younger ones see overlap.

Causal-given:

• Given that we cannot un-build the internet, the honest question is what to do with it.

3. Practise Link to heading

Niveau E — controlled Link to heading

1. Choose: although / while / given that / even though: ___ digital life feels normal, the harms are real. ___ we cannot un-build the internet, the question is what to do.
2. Match: concession → although; contrast → whereas; given that → reasoning premise.

Niveau E — productive Link to heading

3. Build 4 complex sentences using 4 different subordinators about a digital-life topic.

4. Produce Link to heading

Reflection, 200 words. Take a position on whether ‘digital life’ is a redundant phrase. Use 4 subordinators (one of each: concession, contrast, addition, causal).

Sample Link to heading

Although I agree with most of the article’s argument, I object to the certainty of the word ‘redundant’. While the digital and the offline are clearly woven together for most readers under 30, calling the distinction redundant assumes that the weave is even across people, which it isn’t. Even though my schoolmates seem to live the integrated version, I know younger neighbours who still do most of their social life face-to-face. Given that the picture is uneven, the more useful question is not ‘is it redundant?’ but ‘for whom and when?’ Whereas older commentators tend to see ruin, the article tends to see seamlessness — both pictures are partial. The honest answer probably involves naming specific harms (sleep, attention) without inflating them, and naming specific benefits (reach, friendship across cities) without romanticising them.

5. Reflect Link to heading

• I can identify the writer’s stance and one nuance in a digital-life essay.
• I can use 4 subordinators correctly.
• I can write a 200-word position paragraph.

One thing in your notebook: Write one sentence using something you learned in this Unit.

Exam example Link to heading

Task 1 — Listening (10 BE) Link to heading

Listen twice.

“For most readers under 30, the digital and the offline are no longer alternating modes. While this can be a problem for attention, it is rarely a catastrophe. Even though the harms — for instance on sleep — are real, the picture is more local than ‘a generation ruined by phones’.”

1. Audience: ___ . 2. Concession: ___ . 3. Specific harm: ___ . 4. Stance against: ___ .

Task 2 — Reading (12 BE) Link to heading

Read the Digital, Honestly extract above.

1. Claim: ___ . 2. For whom: ___ . 3. One real harm: ___ . 4. What the picture is NOT: ___ .

Task 3 — Use of English (10 BE) Link to heading

Insert the right subordinator.

1. ___ I agree with most of this, I object to the certainty.
2. ___ this can be a problem for attention, it is rarely a catastrophe.
3. ___ we cannot un-build the internet, the question is what to do.
4. ___ older commentators see ruin, younger ones see overlap.

Task 4 — Writing (13 BE) Link to heading

Write 200 words: a position paragraph on a digital-life topic. Use 4 subordinators.

Downloads Link to heading

Common pitfalls Link to heading

• Although + but → ✗ — pick one.
• Given that in casual writing can read pompous; use it deliberately.
• Concession without engagement (although X, still Y) without engaging X — weak.

Further reading / listening Link to heading

• The Atlantic — Technology essays.
• Cal Newport, Digital Minimalism — accessible chapters.

Downloads

Presentation

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Worksheet

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