Abstract
Young adults rely on digital technologies for finding news and information and forming public connection. It is as social media users that they start developing their habits and orientations towards news and journalism. Moreover, the very notion of ‘news’ is blurring as young adults are found to understand news in significantly different ways than earlier generations, i.e. captured through terms such as ‘serendipitous’, ‘incidental’ and ‘accidental’ news use and a ‘news find me’ orientation. This makes questions of how young adults develop a relationship to news and how they understand themselves as news users intriguing to industry and researchers. A considerable amount of literature from audience studies investigates young people’s digital news experience from different perspectives. However, many studies are presentist and little attention is paid to the formation processes of becoming news users in a digital environment (Peters & Schrøder 2018).
Building on a longitudinal study of young adults’ (18-24) experiences with digital news, this paper approaches the topic of news formation from a postphenomenological perspective to investigate how digital technologies shape young adults’ relationship to and habits with news. It argues that becoming news users in today’s digital environments is fraught with ambivalence. Analysing this ambivalence further, the paper argues that the intentionality of social media platforms and their underlying infrastructures are guiding users to consume news and content in an entertainment-driven manner, which at the same time. conflicts with young adults’ normative visions on what ‘proper’ news use looks like.
Building on a longitudinal study of young adults’ (18-24) experiences with digital news, this paper approaches the topic of news formation from a postphenomenological perspective to investigate how digital technologies shape young adults’ relationship to and habits with news. It argues that becoming news users in today’s digital environments is fraught with ambivalence. Analysing this ambivalence further, the paper argues that the intentionality of social media platforms and their underlying infrastructures are guiding users to consume news and content in an entertainment-driven manner, which at the same time. conflicts with young adults’ normative visions on what ‘proper’ news use looks like.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Publication date | 26 May 2022 |
| Publication status | Published - 26 May 2022 |
| Event | Pre-Conference of the 72nd annual congress of the International Communication Association (ICA): Young People & News in a Digital World - ISCOM, Paris, France Duration: 26 May 2022 → 26 May 2022 |
Conference
| Conference | Pre-Conference of the 72nd annual congress of the International Communication Association (ICA) |
|---|---|
| Location | ISCOM |
| Country/Territory | France |
| City | Paris |
| Period | 26/05/2022 → 26/05/2022 |
| Other | <br/>The pre-conference will consitute the following four key panels:<br/><br/>How to Make sense of Globalized Risk? (New) Paradigms to study communication between interdependencies and power relations;<br/>The pre-conference hosted face-to-face and online at ISCOM was organized in partnership with the University of Sodertorn (Sweden) and the University of Denver (USA). It was an opportunity for researchers from the United States, Sweden, Romania, Germany, Singapore, Canada, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Israel, Denmark, France, and other countries to share their work and compare their points of view. <br/><br/>All of them are working in the field of youth media, and studying how young people in different countries “consume” news and information. For example, when they learn about politics or become interested in social movements. <br/><br/> <br/><br/>The ICA's pre-conference day at ISCOM, "Young People & News in a Digital World: Local and Global Perspectives" was divided into two parts. The first part was dedicated to the lecture of Prof. Pablo Boczkowski[1] and Prof. Mora Matassi[2], from the Department of Communication at Northwestern University in the United States, on their book "To know is to compare: studying social media across countries, media and platforms", which examines the dynamics of digital culture from a comparative perspective and the impact of different media on the lives and perception of news by young people. The example of the social network TikTok and the Netflix series "Sex Education" were particularly examined. The first one, very popular among 18-25 year olds, is now widely used by journalists and advertisers in different countries to broadcast messages to the application's users. As for the series, the researchers analyzed the adaptation of the content according to the audience, so the versions broadcast in France and in the United States have very little in common with the one broadcast in Peru, for example, where some scenes, considered too daring, have been cut. <br/><br/>The second part of the day was devoted to thematic workshops bringing together researchers around defined subjects and allowing direct exchanges, followed by group restitutions and plenary discussions. A guideline for these activities was "no Power Point" in order to free up the floor and encourage cooperation between researchers.<br/><br/>This day was also an opportunity for the teacher-researchers, some of whom are in charge of international development in their home institutions, to discover ISCOM, the philosophy of our school, its methods, its strong links with companies, its approach to teaching communication, particularly intercultural communication, and to consider partnerships. from various countries and research discplines, and will culminate in reflections on covering global risk. |
Keywords
- Young Adults
- News Audiences
- News Use
- Post-Phenomenology