Where Participation Is Negotiated: New Media in Everyday Life

Addressing the intersection between New Media and social inequality requires taking the everyday processes and actual situations into account in which New Media is used and where participation in New Media is negotiated and constituted.

Relating to Cultural Studies the domestication approach argues that everyday life especially in the domestic sphere can be seen as a microcosm of society, where institutional and discursive inequalities are reflected as well as being reproduced. Within the domestication process New Media Technologies are actively integrated into daily routines, social interactions and spatiotemporal structures of the households revealing processes of inclusion and exclusion.

The present paper presents findings from the ethnographic-orientated, interview-based long-term study “The Mediatized Home” analyzing the integration of the different New Media Technologies into the everyday lives of 25 (heterosexual) couples over a period of over 5 years. The findings show that inequalities in internet use and skills are especially tied to gender roles and practices. Although these inequalities diminish during the process of integrating the internet into everyday life, they do not dissolve entirely, but prove to be resilient to its changing surroundings. Causes for the persistence of these inequalities can be identified on an institutional and discursive level as well as within the interaction of the couples. Various aspects on these different levels lead to a gendered division of labor within the relationships of the couples involving a gendered construction of New Media expertise, which is evidently affecting the use of New Media.

In order to understand the ways in which New Media can open up possibilities to participation, it is crucial to ask whether people are equally taking part in New Media or not. Our study helps explaining processes of inclusion as well as exclusion showing how participation in New Media is negotiated in everyday life.