Lonely viewers? Families' organization of space and the allocation of information and communication technologies (ICT) in the home

© 2003 by Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co. KG, 10785 Berlin. All rights reserved. In this study we investigated some of the ways in which the diffusion of new ICT is related to the disposition of space within families. To begin with the concepts of physical and symbolic space are elaborated and an increasing compartmentalization of family life is postulated. The results are based on an integrated quantitative and qualitative research design. They indicate first, that it is not only media appliances that induce individualization of media use, but also the conceptions and organization of space that families employ and, second, that privacy is not always attainable in the family context- and especially not for teenagers.status: publishe