New exciting book about the use of digital media in everyday life

Professor Brita Ytre-Arne will launch her latest book Media Use in Everyday Digital Life on 20 February through Emerald. After digital technology has gained a foothold in all of society's structures and become part of everyday life, Ytre-Arne found the inspiration for the book in the question "but what do you really mean by everyday life" in a discussion about media use and digitalisation. Our everyday life has changed since we got smartphones, but what has changed and how? What has happened to the ways we navigate and structure our daily routines across different social domains?

I wanted to write a book that answered these questions, which was both easy to read and thorough, and which could be of help to anyone who wonders what we really mean when we talk about "media use in everyday life" or about "digital everyday life ». - Brita Ytre-Arne

Media Use in Everyday Digital Life fills a theoretical gap between classic discussions about daily media use and newer studies of emerging technology, in order to better understand what kind of significance the media has for us in everyday life, and how it connects us to local communities and the public.

Through the use of analyzes of media use in everyday life through life transitions and in times of major upheaval in society such as the COVID-19 pandemic, Ytre-Arne provides a framework of daily media use, which is based on extensive qualitative research that takes a cross-media perspective. Through the conceptual approaches to media repertoires and public connection, the book situates communication and changed media use in everyday contexts, and shows how our more digital everyday life reinforces communicative dilemmas.

In my own research, I have long been concerned with everyday life as a framework for media use, and therefore the book is based on insights from many different projects. The fact that we use media in everyday life is crucial for the media's role in society, and an important argument for why media use is exciting and important to study. It is difficult to claim that something is not important when it is part of people's daily lives. - Brita Ytre-Arne

Media Use in Everyday Digital Life will appeal to all readers interested in digital media, audiences, data fixation, journalism and digital platforms.