Symposium 3: Diversity in interactive media use among Dutch youth

Abstract

The intensive use of interactive media has led to assertions about the effect of these media on youth. An increasing number of studies refute these assertions. Despite the enrichment of the debate with empirical data, current research tends to focus on computer and Internet use and skills. Elsewhere we argued that research shouldn't look at the use per se, but rather at the ways interactive media function in young people's activities from the perspective of a changing society. This perspective allows describing possible consequences of societal tendencies for young people's everyday life; it allows describing the social and cultural functions of interactive media as part of young people's behaviour and systems of values and beliefs. This paper presents a quantitative study on the social and cultural functions of interactive media in young people's lives. Rather than following the assumption of a homogeneous generation, we investigate the existence of a diversity of user patterns. Results from a pilot-study show that contemporary youth can be divided into categories of interactive media use and of interactive media users. These results call for a better understanding of these categories and the characteristics of their members. The research question for this paper by result can be formulated as: Can patterns be found in the use of interactive media among youth? We answer this question by a survey among Dutch youngsters aged 9-to-23. The respondents were all students in education levels ranging from primary education to higher professional education. Four clusters of interactive media users, namely Traditionalists, Gamers, Networkers and Producers were identified using cluster analysis. Four clusters of interactive media use, namely browsing, performing, interchanging and authoring were identified as well. Behind these straightforward clusters, a complex whole of user activities can be found. Each cluster shows specific use of and opinions about interactive media. This allows for studying the intricate relationship between youth culture, interactive media and learning. With our analysis of both a) use and b) opinions and preferences, our study provided a deeper understanding of the social and cultural functions of interactive media. Furthermore this study revealed the existence of a diversity of interactive media users, rather than one uniform group, as is often assumed in the literature.