Difference and diversity: trends in young Danes' media uses

Abstract

Drawing on results from a four-year project of basic research, and applying quantitative as well as qualitative methods, this article describes important, recent trends in young Danes' media culture and discusses the research implications that these trends enforce and enhance. Three empirical trends stand out: innovation in media applications, increased interaction between media types and genres, and a more `seamless' social integration of media into everyday life. First, contemporary adolescents are a multi-media generation in two senses: notably young men are pioneers in computer use and both genders mix a variety of media. Second, contrary to much postmodern discourse young people do not necessarily demonstrate media reflexivity as a result of increased intertextual crossbreeding. Third, adolescents' leisure culture is undergoing important reshufflings because of the changing media landscape: public and private spaces are becoming regendered, and the computer acts as a catalyst in shaping more vertical forms of interaction resembling premodern forms of socialization. Finally, it is argued that these trends call for more interdisciplinary, multifaceted research that integrates textual and social dimensions of analysis.