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The overstated generational gap in online news use? A consolidated infrastructural perspective
- Source :
- New Media & Society
- Publication Year :
- 2021
- Publisher :
- SAGE Publications, 2021.
-
Abstract
- Recent research by Taneja et al. suggested that digital infrastructures diminish the generational gap in news use by counteracting preference structures. We expand on this seminal work by arguing that an infrastructural perspective requires overcoming limitations of highly aggregated web tracking data used in prior research. We analyze the individual browsing histories of two representative samples of German Internet users collected in 2012 ( N = 2970) and 2018 ( N = 2045) and find robust evidence for a smaller generational gap in online news use than commonly assumed. While short news website visits mostly demonstrated infrastructural factors, longer news use episodes were shaped more by preferences. The infrastructural role of social media corresponded with reduced news avoidance and more varied news repertoires. Overall, the results suggest that research needs to reconsider commonly held premises regarding the uses of digital media in modern high-choice settings.
- Subjects :
- Facebook
Nutzung
media behavior
Sociology and Political Science
social media
Twitter
Generation
utilization
Digitale Medien
Federal Republic of Germany
representativity
Repräsentativität
infrastructure
ddc:070
Digital infrastructures
generations
media repertoires
online news
preferences
web tracking
Medienverhalten
Interactive, electronic Media
Soziale Medien
Medien
age-specific factors
news
Social media
Sociology
Positive economics
preference
interaktive, elektronische Medien
digital media
News media, journalism, publishing
Online-Medien
Nachrichten
Internet
Stichprobe
Communication
Infrastruktur
media
Perspective (graphical)
Präferenz
online media
sample
Bundesrepublik Deutschland
Preference
Web tracking
Work (electrical)
altersspezifische Faktoren
Publizistische Medien, Journalismus,Verlagswesen
Subjects
Details
- ISSN :
- 14617315 and 14614448
- Volume :
- 24
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- New Media & Society
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi.dedup.....23cf316522421dd621cfa7614ac41e58