Uses and Gratifications

Uses and Gratifications is a new concept to me, but worth considering. Had a bit of trouble swallowing the academia-speak in "Determining the Uses & Gratifications for the Internet." (Does the article really need to quote multiple social scientist studies to back up assertions such as "the Internet is revolutionary; it represents a paradigm shift in the way we do business"?) In some ways the article seems naive. "Users of AOL can be a reasonably representative sample of consumer Internet use." Really, in 2004, when it was written? I'd argue that AOL ceased being representative of Internet users by the millenium, at the latest. I've been trying to get my 83-year-old dad to dump AOL for a long time.

"Around the World Wide Web in 80 Ways" suffered from some of the same conceits (again, do we need four studies to validate the statement that "entertainment is a major motivation for going online"?). However, reading the two articles made me reflect for probably the first time on why I spend so much time online. The reasons are complicated, sometimes conflicting, and heretofore quite unconscious. One primary reason is work email; gratification results from responding quickly to student, administrator or business community representatives promptly and therefore increasing the reputation and visibility of our program. A second would be to interact with my online students. A third is just to "zone out" at the end of the day or sometimes midday, surfing for general or industry-specific news and entertainment. Social connections are another reason; research for my own student activities another, banking and checking stocks quite another; staying informed on community and political events a distinctly different reason. What I'd never considered from a uses & gratifications perspective, or really any conscious one at all, is "what motivates me?" What I was struck by as I pondered that (@ 2 am last night because I couldn't sleep) is that all of those motivations might occur in rapid succession or simultaneously. I regularly switch effortlessly between work and personal online activities. Without really ever stopping to consider it, I think I've taken the approach that if I need to check my online bank account during work hours, I should be able to, because the advent of 24/7 computing means I'm also likely to talk to students @ 6 am or on the weekend.

The lines blur; the motivations for being online are interconnected and hazy. No wonder studies have a hard time parsing the data (as the "80 Ways" article seemed to admit at the conclusion).

The "80 Ways" article also had some questionable conclusions, in my view. It tried to separate "serious activities" (such as politically-motivated surfing) from casual ones (downloading music/videos); but today downloads would rank much higher, thanks to Apple & YouTube--I don't think this reflects the less-serious nature of the audience, but the fact that technology has made it easy to do so.

Finally, how has the political landscape changed due to the Internet? I think the study misses the boat by trying to separate "serious" political surfers from others. This summer my 20- and 18-year old sons were both home from college and regularly watched Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert online. Young people are getting their news from sources like these because of the disconnect between what they experience as draft-age Americans and how the traditional media portrays the U.S. political environment. I watched with interest as my 18-year-old watched Colbert's "Better Know a District" profile of Bellingham which had a thoughtful (if funny) analysis of U.S./Canada border security. I fear these kids will become quite cynical, with Leno, Letterman, Stewart and Colbert as their primary political news sources.