News Consumption in the Daily Routine of Doomscrollers
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.14515/monitoring.2024.2.2527Keywords:
doomscrolling, problematic news consumption, news consumption, high-choice media environment, media addiction, audience studiesAbstract
Changes in the media environment and the situational context have led to many Russians significantly increasing their news consumption in 2022. Some of them could be described as doomscrollers — overly active consumers of negative news, despite the anxiety and anger associated with it. This article examines how such media repertoires fit into routines, relate to other everyday activities, and are localized in time and space. The empirical basis of the study is 47 interviews with doomscrollers conducted from November 20, 2022 to March 30, 2023. The study shows that news consumption can be integrated into doomscrollers' routines in two different ways. It can be (1) spread out throughout the day or (2) occur at a designated time. In the first case, news fills a person’s free time, including when switching between different tasks. Such distributed consumption of information content can occur in unusual contexts: at a party, at an exhibition, in the shower, in a state of strong alcoholic intoxication, etc. In the second case, informants emphasize that they deliberately choose a time and location for viewing news, which allows them to combine several daily activities or consume information content in an environment that is perceived as safer and more comfortable. The author concludes that high news consumption should be classified as problematic not only on the basis of quantitative indicators, but also on the basis of how it fits into the daily routine and correlates with other daily activities. The particular practices of information consumption identified for doomscrollers are likely a consequence of the transition to high-choice media environment and technological developments. It can be assumed that they are also typical for less active news consumers.
Acknowledgments. The study is supported by the Russian Science Foundation, grant № 23-78-01206, https://rscf.ru/project/23-78-01206/.
References
Казун А. Д. Есть ли выход из пузыря? Мотивы потребления идеологически чуждой информации думскроллерами // Полис. Политические исследования. 2023. № 4. С. 168-181. https://doi.org/10.17976/jpps/2023.04.12.
Kazun A.D. (2023) Is There a Way Out of the “Bubble”? Motives for the Consumption of Ideologically Diverse News by Doomscrollers. Polis. Political Studies. No. 4. P. 168-181. https://doi.org/10.17976/jpps/2023.04.12. (In Russ.)
Казун А. Д. «Обложиться информацией, чтобы хоть что-то понимать»: индивидуальные и социальные основания думскроллинга // Мир России. 2024. № 2. С. 77-94. https://doi.org/10.17323/1811-038X-2024-33-2-77-94.
Kazun A.D. (2024) ’Surround Myself with Information to Understand at Least Something’: Individual and Social Reasons for Doomscrolling. Universe of Russia. No. 2. P. 77-94. https://doi.org/10.17323/1811-038X-2024-33-2-77-94. (In Russ.)
Максименко А.А., Дейнека О.С., Мортикова И.А. Инфодемический думскроллинг и психологическое благополучие россиян // Общество: социология, психология, педагогика. 2022. № 12. С. 129-136. https://doi.org/10.24158/spp.2022.12.20.
Maksimenko A.A., Deyneka O.S., Mortikova I.A. (2022) Infodemic Doomscrolling and the Psychological Well-Being of Russians. Society: Sociology, Psychology, Pedagogics. No. 12. P. 129—136. https://doi.org/10.24158/spp.2022.12.20. (In Russ.)
Как россияне справляются с новым кризисом: Социально-экономические практики населения / Под ред. Радаева В.В. Научные доклады факультета социальных наук НИУ ВШЭ. М.: НИУ ВШЭ, 2023. Вып. 1 (1). URL: https://id.hse.ru/books/818258101.html (дата обращения: 21.04.2024).
Radaev V.V. (ed). (2023) Coping with a New Crisis: Socio-Economic Practices of the Russian Population. Research Reports of the HSE Faculty of Social Sciences. Moscow: HSE University. Issue 1 (1). URL: https://id.hse.ru/books/818258101.html (accessed: 21.04.2024). (In Russ.)
Barnes R., Mulcahy R., Riedel A. (2023) Push Notifications and News Snacking: The Impact of Mobile News Alert Framing on Reader Engagement. New Media & Society. https://doi.org/10.1177/14614448231196580.
Benesch C. (2012) An Empirical Analysis of the Gender Gap in News Consumption. Journal of Media Economics. Vol. 25. No. 3. P. 147—167. https://doi.org/10.1080/08997764.2012.700976.
Boczkowski P.J. (2010) The Consumption of Online News at Work. Information, Communication & Society. Vol. 13. No. 4. P. 470—484. https://doi.org/10.1080/13691181003639841.
Bolin G. (2017) Media Generations. Experience, Identity and Meditised Social Change. London: Routledge.
Boukes M., Vliegenthart R. (2017) News Consumption and its Unpleasant Side Effect: Studying the Effect of Hard and Soft News Exposure on Mental Well-Being Over Time. Journal of Media Psychology: Theories, Methods, and Applications. Vol. 29. P. 137—147. https://doi.org/10.1027/1864-1105/a000224.
Broersma M., Swart J. (2022) Do Novel Routines Stick After the Pandemic? The Formation of News Habits During COVID-19. Journalism Studies. Vol. 23. No. 5—6. P. 551—568. https://doi.org/10.1080/1461670X.2021.1932561.
Coleman S. (2013) How Voters Feel. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Costera Meijer I., Groot Kormelink T. (2015) Checking, Sharing, Clicking and Linking. Changing Patterns of News Use between 2004 and 2014. Digital Journalism. Vol. 3. No. 5. P. 664—679. https://doi.org/10.1080/21670811.2014.937149.
Diddi A., LaRose R. (2006) Getting Hooked on News: Uses and Gratifications and the Formation of News Habits Among College Students in an Internet Environment. Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media. Vol. 50. No. 2. P. 193—210. https://doi.org/10.1207/s15506878jobem5002_2.
Dimmick J., Feaster J. C., Hoplamazian G. J. (2011) News in the Interstices: The Niches of Mobile Media in Space and Time. New Media & Society. Vol. 13. No. 1. P. 23—39. https://doi.org/10.1177/1461444810363452.
Duyn E. V., Collier J. (2019) Priming and Fake News: The Effects of Elite Discourse on Evaluations of News Media. Mass Communication and Society. Vol. 22. No. 1. P. 29—48. https://doi.org/10.1080/15205436.2018.1511807.
Edgerly S. (2023) Avoiding News is Hard Work, or Is It? A Closer Look at the Work of News Avoidance among Frequent and Infrequent Consumers of News. Journalism Studies. https://doi.org/10.1080/1461670X.2023.2293834.
Ghersetti M., Westlund O. (2018) Habits and Generational Media Use. Journalism Studies. Vol. 19. No. 7. P. 1039—1058. https://doi.org/10.1080/1461670X.2016.1254061.
Groot Kormelink T. (2023) How People Integrate News into Their Everyday Routines: A Context-Centered Approach to News Habits. Digital Journalism. Vol. 11. No. 1. P. 19—38. https://doi.org/10.1080/21670811.2022.2112519.
Gur-Ze’ev H., Aharoni T., Kligler-Vilenchik N., Tenenboim-Weinblatt K. (2024) “I Hope my Partner Will Keep me up-to-date”: How Couples Navigate News Consumption and Avoidance. Journalism Studies. https://doi.org/10.1080/1461670X.2023.2299451.
Hameleers M., Brosius A., Marquart F., Goldberg A.C., van Elsas E., de Vreese C.H. (2022) Mistake or Manipulation? Conceptualizing Perceived Mis- and Disinformation among News Consumers in 10 European Countries. Communication Research. Vol. 49. No. 7. P. 919—941. https://doi.org/10.1177/0093650221997719.
Hill A., Gauntlett D. (1999) TV Living: Television, Culture and Everyday Life. Routledge.
Holman E.A., Garfin D.R., Silver R.C. (2014) Media’s Role in Broadcasting Acute Stress Following the Boston Marathon Bombings. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. Vol. 111. No. 1. P. 93—98. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1316265110.
Lefebvre H. (2013) Rhythmanalysis: Space, Time and Everyday Life. Bloomsbury Academic.
Lou C., Tandoc Jr. E.C., Hong L.X., Pong X.Y. (Brenda), Lye W.X. (Rachelle), Sng N.G. (Trisha). (2021) When Motivations Meet Affordances: News Consumption on Telegram. Journalism Studies. Vol. 22. No. 7. P. 934—952. https://doi.org/10.1080/1461670X.2021.1906299.
Mannell K., Meese J. (2022) From Doom-Scrolling to News Avoidance: Limiting News as a Wellbeing Strategy During COVID Lockdown. Journalism Studies. Vol. 23. No. 3. P. 302—319. https://doi.org/10.1080/1461670X.2021.2021105.
Matthes J. (2008) Need for Orientation as a Predictor of Agenda-Setting Effects: Causal Evidence from a Two-Wave Panel Study. International Journal of Public Opinion Research. Vol. 20. No. 4. P. 440–453. https://doi.org/10.1093/ijpor/edh118.
McLaughlin B., Gotlieb M.R., Mills D.J. (2023) Caught in a Dangerous World: Problematic News Consumption and Its Relationship to Mental and Physical Ill-Being. Health Communication. Vol. 38. No. 12. P. 2687-2697. https://doi.org/10.1080/10410236.2022.2106086.
Molyneux L. (2018) Mobile News Consumption. Digital Journalism. Vol. 6. No. 5. P. 634—650. https://doi.org/10.1080/21670811.2017.1334567.
Mourão R.R., Thorson E., Chen W., Tham S.M. (2018) Media Repertoires and News Trust During the Early Trump Administration. Journalism Studies. Vol. 19. No. 13. P. 1945—1956. https://doi.org/10.1080/1461670X.2018.1500492.
Ohme J., Mothes C. (2023) News Snacking and Political Learning: Changing Opportunity Structures of Digital Platform News Use and Political Knowledge. Journal of Information Technology & Politics. https://doi.org/10.1080/19331681.2023.2193579.
Pedersen M.A., Albris K., Seaver N. (2021) The Political Economy of Attention. Annual Review of Anthropology. Vol. 50. No. 1. P. 309—325. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-anthro-101819-110356.
Rosentiel T. (2008) Where Men and Women Differ in Following the News. Pew Research Center. URL: https://www.pewresearch.org/2008/02/06/where-men-and-women-differ-in-following-the-news/ (accessed: 30.03.2024).
Schäfer S. (2020) Illusion of Knowledge through Facebook News? Effects of Snack News in a News Feed on Perceived Knowledge, Attitude Strength, and Willingness for Discussions. Computers in Human Behavior. No. 103. P. 1—12. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2019.08.031.
Schrøder K. C. (2015) News Media Old and New: Fluctuating Audiences, News Repertoires and Locations of Consumption. Journalism Studies. Vol. 16. No. 1. P. 60—78. https://doi.org/10.1080/1461670X.2014.890332.
Searles K., Feezell J.T. (2023) Scrollability: A New Digital News Affordance. Political Communication. Vol. 40. No. 5. P. 670—675. https://doi.org/10.1080/10584609.2023.2208083.
Silver R. C., Holman E. A., Andersen J. P., Poulin M., McIntosh D. N., Gil-Rivas V. (2013) Mental- and Physical-Health Effects of Acute Exposure to Media Images of the September 11, 2001, Attacks and the Iraq War. Psychological Science. Vol. 24. No. 9. P. 1623—1634. https://doi.org/10.1177/0956797612460406.
Skovsgaard M., Andersen K. (2020) Conceptualizing News Avoidance: Towards a Shared Understanding of Different Causes and Potential Solutions. Journalism Studies. Vol. 21. No. 4. P. 459—476. https://doi.org/10.1080/1461670X.2019.1686410.
Swart J., Peters C., Broersma M. (2017) Navigating Cross-Media News Use. Journalism Studies. Vol. 18. No. 11. P. 1343—1362. https://doi.org/10.1080/1461670X.2015.1129285.
Szabo A., Hopkinson K.L. (2007) Negative Psychological Effects of Watching the News in the Television: Relaxation or Another Intervention May Be Needed to Buffer Them! International Journal of Behavioral Medicine. Vol. 14. No. 2. P. 57—62. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03004169.
Tang G., Hung E.P.W., Au-Yeung H.-K.C., Yuen S. (2020) Politically Motivated Internet Addiction: Relationships among Online Information Exposure, Internet Addiction, FOMO, Psychological Well-being, and Radicalism in Massive Political Turbulence. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. Vol. 17. No. 2. Art. 2. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17020633.
Toff B., Palmer R., Nielsen R. K. (2023) Avoiding the News: Reluctant Audiences for Journalism. New York, NY: Columbia University Press.
Van Aelst P., Strömbäck J., Aalberg T., Esser F., de Vreese C., Matthes J., Hopmann D., Salgado S., Hubé N., Stępińska A., Papathanassopoulos S., Berganza R., Legnante G., Reinemann C., Sheafer T., Stanyer J. (2017) Political Communication in a High-Choice Media Environment: A Challenge for Democracy? Annals of the International Communication Association. Vol. 41. No. 1. P. 3—27. https://doi.org/10.1080/23808985.2017.1288551.
Westlund O., Weibull L. (2013) Generation, Life Course and News Media Use in Sweden 1986—2011. Northern Lights: Film & Media Studies Yearbook. Vol. 11. No. 1. P. 147—173.
Wojcieszak M., Clemm von Hohenberg B., Casas A., Menchen-Trevino E., de Leeuw S., Gonçalves A., Boon M. (2022) Null Effects of News Exposure: A Test of the (Un)Desirable Effects of a ‘News Vacation’ and ‘News Binging’. Humanities and Social Sciences Communications. Vol. 9. No. 1. Art. 1. https://doi.org/10.1057/s41599-022-01423-x.
Wood W., Neal D.T. (2009) The Habitual Consumer. Journal of Consumer Psychology. Vol. 19. No. 4. P. 579—592. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcps.2009.08.003.
Wood W., Quinn J.M., Kashy D.A. (2002) Habits in Everyday Life: Thought, Emotion, and Action. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. Vol. 83. No. 6. P. 1281—1297.
Ytre-Arne B., Moe H. (2021) Doomscrolling, Monitoring and Avoiding: News Use in COVID-19 Pandemic Lockdown. Journalism Studies. Vol. 22. No. 13. P. 1739—1755. https://doi.org/10.1080/1461670X.2021.1952475.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2024 Monitoring of Public Opinion: Economic and Social Changes Journal (Public Opinion Monitoring) ISSN 2219-5467
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
