ABSTRACT

Mobile devices produce different patterns of digital news seeking and engagement, relative to computers. The rapid proliferation of mobile technology means that businesses are scrambling to include mobile ads in their marketing plans and that media and political professionals are grappling with changes in the way they communicate with the public. Heavy reliance on mobile devices for Internet connectivity systematically overlaps with demographic characteristics such as race, ethnicity, and socio-economic status. Mobile Internet access may increase the breadth of access, but at the expense of more habitual and attentive online news consumption. Content providers are doing whatever they can to avoid the problem of making people have to click and wait in the mobile environment. Though the mobile setting provides constant access to news it also provides constant access to other diversions. Beyond the constant pull of notifications from Twitter, Snapchat, Instagram, and Facebook, most people have a relative preference for entertainment over news.