Addiction to old versus new media

Abstract

Two aspects of technologically driven civilization are evident: availability of new media and interactivity. This study examines media addiction on three levels: purpose of use, medium of choice and online application utilized. Media addiction increases with those who use media for fun as opposed to individuals who use media for information; level of media addiction is higher with users of new media as opposed to users of old media; more interactive and less practical online applications such as social networks and chat are more addictive. When looking into nature of new and old media it is possible to conclude that media addiction may be related to number of senses grabbed by media and media features, such as live broadcasting and interactivity. This brings us to conclusion that future of media may be in employment of additional human senses in its use.