Media Life of the Young
Publication details
| Year: | 2014 |
| DOI: | 10.1177/1103308813512934 |
| Issued: | 2014 |
| Language: | English |
| Volume: | 22 |
| Issue: | 1 |
| Start Page: | 21 |
| End Page: | 41 |
| Editors: | |
| Authors: | Westlund O.; Bjur J. |
| Type: | Journal article |
| Journal: | YOUNG |
| Publisher: | SAGE Publications |
| Topics: | Internet usage, practices and engagement; Digital and socio-cultural environment |
| Sample: | "The empirical investigation at hand has made use of data from a nationally representative survey, which was conducted by the Swedish Media Council (Ministry of Culture). The authors coordinated the survey template, intro- ducing a number of new questionnaire items of relevance to the 2010 edition of this bi-annual survey project. The field work was carried out through a postal-based sur- vey. A total of 2000 surveys were sent to a simple random selection of Swedes aged 9–16 years, resulting in 1181 valid respondents and a net response rate of 60 per cent." (Authors, 30) |
| Implications For Educators About: | Other |
| Implications For Policy Makers About: | Other |
| Other PolicyMaker Implication: | Awareness of the media habits of young people |
| Implications For Stakeholders About: | Researchers |
Abstract
This is a thorough investigation into contemporary young people and their media life. The article conceptualizes a typology of media life, drawing on a theoretical body involving the sociology of generations, life course research, media life and individualization. This empirically derived typology makes a strong instrument for an understanding of the media life of the young, furnishing insights into how they have constructed their use of media. The investigation is based on a robust national survey with Swedes born 1994–2001, conducted in 2010 and focusing on four media: television, gaming, the Internet and mobile devices. Two of the findings are particularly surprising. Firstly, the results reveal that the young generally lead heterogeneous media lives, varying with age and sex. Secondly, although some young people literarily live their life in media, there are also de facto young who live a life without media. This is particularly pronounced for gaming and mobile use.
Outcome
"Firstly, the results show that young boys and girls command different attention to gaming, the Internet and mobile devices. For gaming, there is homogeneity over different ages, but strongly marked heterogeneity with reference to gender. For the Internet, the opposite is true. For the mobile, on the other hand, the heterogeneity is expressed through a higher variation in mean values for both gender and age. Ultimately, the media life typology reveals extensive heterogeneity among the young. The only exception is television, which plays a more equally important role to both genders and over different ages.... Secondly, the findings contradict popular assumptions that young people lead lives deeply immersed with media. Certainly, some young individuals live their lives with these media, devoting to them intensive frequency and an extensive duration of time. Nevertheless, the appearance of young people living a life without media makes a surprising and noteworthy result.... The article shows differences depending on media, gender and age." (Authors, 35-36)