Media multitasking and connected cocooning

Back in the day, a family might have gathered around the electronic hearth that was TV to watch a network broadcast of prime-time programming. Today, if family members are in the same room consuming media “together,” it’s more likely they’re each semi-fixated on their own private channel–keeping one eye on the TV screen.

Recently Ofcom released a communications market report indicating that no longer are most family members on the same channel. Instead multichannel surfing and multitasking media use is the norm for everyday media use in most households. In response, journalists Dan Sabbagh and Patrick Foster at the Times Online comment, “in the new, multichannel era of texting, tweeting and tapping away on computers, the generations are finding their entertainment in very different spheres.”

Earlier this year, the European Interactive Advertising Association released its study of media multi-tasking habits in a three-screen culture, and the climate of continuous partial attention that results. They found that the numbers of people who admit to juggling multiple channels is rising every year. Read more about that report and some related research here.

In the wired home, it’s becoming apparent that mass media technologies have both a centrifugal effect (dividing people) and a centripetal effect (connecting people), resulting in a culture of connected cocooning.