Multitasking With TV: Media Technology,Genre, and Audience Influences

This study explored how media technologies, TV content genres, and demographic and trait individual differences influence the amount of media multitasking while viewing TV, or “second screen viewing,” among college undergraduates. A dual structural and audience factor approach examines influences on multitasking while viewing TV, and a limited capacity theory guides an examination of the effect of TV genre on multitasking while viewing. Survey data reveal that media technology access, sex, age, trait immersive tendency, and multitasking preference predict greater multitasking and that individuals are most likely to multitask during sports content and least likely to during dramatic content.     

Multitasking With Television Among Adolescents

Using Ecological Momentary Assessment, we explored predictors of adolescents' television (TV) multitasking behaviors. We investigated whether demographic characteristics (age, gender, race/ethnicity, and maternal education) predict adolescents' likelihood of multitasking with TV. We also explored whether characteristics of the TV-multitasking moment (affect, TV genre, attention to people, and media multitasking) predict adolescents' likelihood of paying primary versus secondary attention to TV. Demographic characteristics do not predict TV multitasking. In TV-multitasking moments, primary attention to TV was more likely if adolescents experienced negative affect, watched a drama, or attended to people; it was less likely if they used computers or video games.     

Do You Enjoy TV,while Tweeting? Effects of Multitasking on Viewers’ Transportation,Emotions and Enjoyment

The present study seeks to extend the extant body of work on media multitasking by examining the impact of second screen use (tweeting while watching television) on transportation into a narrative and enjoyment of a TV sitcom, mediated through affective experiences. In a between-subjects experiment, participants watched a TV show with or without tweeting about it. The findings support the assumption that media multitasking decreases people’s experience of transportation, which then impairs their emotional responses; reduced emotions further decrease enjoyment of the show. However, trait empathy does not moderate the impact of concurrent TV-viewing and tweeting.     

Assessing social media use in Dutch municipalities: Political,institutional, and socio-economic determinants

Social media enables public sector organizations to connect with citizens. Next to this, it can help organizations provide more detailed and useful information. But to what extent is social media used by local governments for interaction purposes, and what factors influence this? In this article, we study how Dutch local governments use Twitter for interaction, linking this to political, institutional, and socio-economic determinants. We find that politically fragmented municipalities use Twitter more for interaction, suggesting that political multiplicity forms a stimulus for more online engagement. Moreover, municipalities that have a Twitter account for a longer time make more advanced use of its functions, implying that municipalities with longer experience are better acquainted with a platform's strengths and weaknesses. Finally, municipalities with a higher presence of people in the age group 20–65 as well as municipalities with more higher-educated people use their social media more for interaction. The same counts for municipalities with more ICT workers.     

The Representation of Altruistic and Egoistic Motivations in Children’s TV Programming

A content analysis of children’s television examined the frequency with which behaviors were (a) driven by altruistic versus egoistic motivations, (b) performed by affable/surly characters, (c) rewarded/punished, and (d) present in content popular among different age groups (2–5, 6–11, and 12–17 years old). We found that portrayal patterns stressed the importance of egoistic motivations (particularly competence, autonomy, and relatedness) for older children. The findings are interpreted in line with logic underlying the model of intuitive morality and exemplars (MIME; Tamborini, 2013), suggesting that media representations can influence the motivations of their viewers.     

青年御宅族的媒介使用动机研究:以南京地区为例

御宅族(OTAKU)是指爱好动画(Animation)、漫画(Comic)和电子游戏(Game)的特定人群,因此又被称为ACG。本研究以南京市的青年御宅族为研究对象展开问卷调查,采用使用与满足理论中的期待-价值模式,以探究青年御宅族热衷ACG媒介的动机。     

Podcasts and Productivity: A Qualitative Uses and Gratifications Study

Through analysis of five focus groups with people who “usually (more often than not) listened to at least one podcast episode a week” in the last two months, this uses and gratifications (U&G) study uncovers several prominent themes among podcast listener experiences. In an effort to integrate old and new media use typologies within U&G research, our results are presented in two parts: emerging typologies and expansions of existing typologies. The emerging section includes reasons for podcast displacement of other media, customizable experiences, and multitasking (which involves both temptation bundling and feeding the brain). The expansion builds on the existing typologies of companionship and interaction by analyzing avenues for parasocial relationship formation and identifying social opportunities as well as social frustrations surrounding podcasts. We ultimately conclude that podcasts offer an endless supply of engaging content that travels with listeners, allowing them to be “productive” in various physical and mind-expanding ways. The enjoyment is facilitated in part by forging connections with hosts and other listeners.     

In Search of the Older Audience: Adult Age Differences in Television Viewing

General Social Survey data were used to test the claims that (a) older adults watch more television than younger adults and (b) they do so because of poor health, retirement, and widowhood. Older adults did watch more television on average than other age groups. This effect was not explained by birth cohort or altered by time of measurement. However, the age effect was small (despite striking mean differences), because variability within the youngest and oldest groups was large. Overall, traditional explanations of older adults' viewing were largely unsupported. Demographic and social variables explained younger adults' viewing better than older adults'.     

Manipulating and Measuring Media Multitasking: Implications of Previous Research and Guidelines for Future Research

Media multitasking has been receiving increased attention from communication scholars as well as scholar in other fields, with studies focusing on the prevalence, predictors, behavior, and effects. Several recent papers have provided overviews of findings from media multitasking research, or provided frameworks to help researchers think about conceptual issues around multitasking. This article expands on those efforts by refining the methodological elements that are important to consider in media multitasking research. We discuss the validity of operationalizations in previous studies, and the impact that design and measures had on the conclusions drawn. In order to do this, we map the different options for manipulating and measuring media multitasking, discuss the implications, and provide guidelines for future research examining media multitasking to help connect disparate findings and provide additional guidance for researchers to move forward with this topic.     

The role of information in successful aging: The case for a research focus on the oldest old

There are gaps in research regarding the role of information in successful aging as well as concerning the information-seeking behavior of the “oldest old” (those aged 85+). This article encourages researchers in library and information science (LIS) to consider undertaking research to fill these gaps. It therefore addresses issues about the importance of the oldest age group; aging theories, including those specific to successful aging; available theories from the field of human information behavior; prior research about the information needs of the oldest old and source use (including the Internet); and the role that information might play in whether or not people are aging successfully.     

Librarians' responses to “reading at risk”: A Delphi study

This study surveys librarians' reactions to the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) report on “Reading at Risk”. Using census data, the NEA concluded that there has been a drastic decline in “literary” reading and it is most sharply pronounced in the youngest group surveyed. To determine whether librarians' perceptions of reading, especially among youth, were consistent with the NEA findings, a Delphi study was conducted. Eleven youth library professionals and educators, identified as experts, responded to survey questions probing whether digital media impact leisure time reading for both adults and adolescents; whether reading is at risk; and whether the decline in literary reading foreshadows erosion in cultural and civic participation. Library experts tended to agree with the effects of digital media on leisure time reading for children. Experts were split on how digital media impact leisure time reading among adult readers. They were closely aligned against the assertion that participation in literary reading foreshadows participation in cultural and civic participation.     

Facebook Use and Its Role in Shaping Access to Social Benefits among Older Adults

Adults who are 65 years or older have increasingly adopted social network sites (SNSs), Facebook in particular. Yet the ramifications of SNS use in this population remain understudied. Using a nationally representative sample of U.S. adults (N = 2,003), this study focuses on Facebook users (N = 1,138) and examines patterns of Facebook use by younger (aged 18–65 years) and older users (aged 65 or older), as well as the social benefits associated with older users’ Facebook use. Findings show that older users have different network structures, but the frequency of their visits and engagement in Social Media Relationship Maintenance Behaviors (SMRMB), a measure of perceived likelihood to engage with others via social media, do not significantly differ from those of younger users. Moreover, our results suggest that among older users (N = 98), the number of self-reported “actual” friends on Facebook and SMRMB positively predict perceived support, while SMRMB contributes to perceptions of access to useful information. Overall, the study highlights unique usage patterns and social benefits associated with Facebook use among older adults. As such, its findings provide insights for the future design of technological interventions to help older adults better access social benefits associated with SNS use.     

Can I Have Your Attention? Implications of the Research on Distractions and Multitasking for Reference Librarians

The media have identified the past decade as “the age of distraction.” People today find it harder to work on long, sustained tasks because distractions are eroding their attention spans, fostering a culture of discontinuity. Fields as diverse as psychology, business, education, human-computer interaction, and communication studies have produced a wealth of studies on interruptions, distractions, and multitasking—research that has important implications for reference librarians. The nature of our jobs invites interruptions by the public, requires familiarity with the latest technology, stimulates curiosity about a broad range of subjects, and demands adeptness at multitasking—all factors that can atomize attention.     

Antecedents of the Initiation of Watching Sexually Explicit Internet Material: A Longitudinal Study Among Adolescents

Little research to date has focused on adolescents’ initiation of watching sexually explicit Internet material (SEIM) and its antecedents. Based on 400 adolescents who had never watched SEIM at baseline (in a three-wave panel study among 1,467 13–17-year-old Dutch adolescents), we examined antecedents of the initiation of watching SEIM one year later. Logistic regression analyses indicated that boys were more likely to start watching SEIM than girls. A hypergender identity increased the likelihood to initiate watching SEIM among girls, whereas frequent exposure to the sexy self-presentation of others in social media especially increased boys’ chance of watching SEIM. An interaction effect between sexual experience and age was also found.     

Second Screening and Political Persuasion on Social Media

This article seeks to explain political persuasion in relation to second screening—people’s use of a second screen (i.e., smartphone/laptop) while watching television to access further information or discuss TV programs. Employing a two-wave-panel survey in the United States, results show this emergent practice makes people more open to changing their political opinions, particularly among those who habitually use social media for news or frequently interact with others in social media contexts.     

Digitally-Wired and Mobile Device-Driven: Are Singapore Teenagers Still Reading?

Singapore teenagers are digitally-wired and mobile device-driven. Growing up digital, the question is how are their reading habits like? To better understand the state of reading for leisure in a highly digitally-wired country, the Singapore’s National Library Board (NLB) conducted the inaugural population-wide National Reading Habits Study in 2016 among Singaporeans aged 13 years and above. A mixed-method research design in the form of a quantitative survey and focus group discussions was employed for the study. This paper focuses on the reading habits of teenagers between the ages of 13 and 19. The study ascertained that 71% of Singapore teenagers read any material for leisure frequently, i.e. at least a few times a week. Half of them (51%) indicated reading online articles on social media or websites, with the proportion for social media higher compared to websites. However, few of them had read news (35%) or books (32%) frequently. The study also found that the internet and digital devices are a double-edged sword, as they help them to read more, but at the same time distract them from reading due to their active connection to friends on social media. Strategies to better engage Singapore teenagers are discussed.     

Is Information-Seeking Behavior of Doctoral Students Changing?: A Review of the Literature (2010–2015)

The advent of the Internet and networked communications in the last 15 years has arguably considerably changed the information behaviors of doctoral students, including the discovery process. Information seeking includes initiating a search, constructing search strategies, and locating and evaluating the identified sources. Current research on information-seeking behaviors is focusing on understanding how the Internet, social media, and other technological and communication-based changes, including mobile technologies, have changed the way students seek information in order to understand the information behaviors of the students of tomorrow. This article offers a review of the literature on information-seeking behaviors, with a particular focus on recent years (2010–2015). It aims to determine whether notable changes in the information-seeking behavior of doctoral students have emerged in recent years. The study shows that the information-seeking behaviors of doctoral students follow a steady trend, with some subtle changes, particularly in the (patchy) use of social media and networking sites. There appears to be more similarities than differences across disciplines in the information-seeking behaviors of doctoral students. Considerations to their information literacy skills are given to understand better the role supervisors and library staff can play to support the doctoral students population in the early stages of the research process.     

Social media effects on fostering online civic engagement and building citizen trust and trust in institutions

This paper tests the extent to which social media is shaping civic engagement initiatives to build trust among people and increase trust in their institutions, particularly the government, police and justice systems. A survey of 502 citizens showed that using social media for civic engagement has a significant positive impact on trust propensity and that this trust had led to an increase in trust towards institutions. Interestingly, while group incentives encouraged citizens to engage online for civic matters, it is civic publications through postings on social media that intensify the urge of citizens for civic action to address social issues. Post-hoc analysis via ten interviews with social activists was conducted to further examine their perceptions on trust towards institutions. The overall findings suggest that institutions, in their effort to promote a meaningful and trusting citizen engagement, need to enhance trust among the public by fostering social capital via online civic engagement and closing the public–police disengagement gap.     

Who Pays for Online Content? A Media Dependency Perspective Comparing Young and Older People

This study examines predictors of online content purchases through media dependency theory and comparing young and older people. It focuses on actual online content purchases instead of willingness-to-pay used in previous studies. The effects of two dimensions of media dependencies are compared: intensity and referent scopes. Social media dependency and mobile media dependency are examined specifically, in addition to general Internet dependency as new media dependency. Our results show young people make more actual purchases of online content than older people. Predictors of online content purchases include age group, online shopping habits, ownership of mobile applications and mobile devices, Internet referent dependency, and social media intensity dependency. New media referent dependency is more important than intensity dependency for predicting online content purchases.     

Social networking site uses,internalization, body surveillance,social comparison and body dissatisfaction of males and females in mainland China

Findings indicated that the mass media exposure significantly associated with body image dissatisfaction [Chen & Jackson, 2012. Gender and age group differences in mass media and interpersonal influences on body dissatisfaction among Chinese adolescents. Sex Roles, 66(1-2), 3–20; Field et al., 2005. Exposure to the mass media, body shape concerns, and use of supplements to improve weight and shape among male and female adolescents. Pediatrics, 116(2), e214–e220]. However, limited studies have examined the effect of social media on body image concerns. In regard to this, this paper aims to explore how appearance presentation and appearance interaction on social networking sites influence young adults’ body image dissatisfaction in the Chinese patriarchal society. It proposes that internalization, social comparison and body surveillance may be potential mediators of SNS influences from appearance presentation and appearance interaction on female’s and male’s body dissatisfaction. A survey of 181 males and 203 females indicated that online appearance interaction was significantly associated with female’s body dissatisfaction. In addition, its effect was partially mediated by body surveillance. Besides, body surveillance also mediated the effect of appearance presentation on female’s body dissatisfaction. In male’s case, the influence of online appearance interaction on body dissatisfaction was mediated by internalization and social comparison.