ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on time as part of people’s experience. Rather than taking time as a given, we explore what spending time on news means from a user’s perspective. The research critically assesses time (spent) as a measure of news consumption, in particular as it relates to people’s interest in, importance attached to, or engagement with news. First, time spent does not automatically reflect the quality of attention, nor is it a stamp of approval from users, nor does it indicate the importance people attach to it. Second, time spent is not necessarily linearly related to interest, attention, or engagement. “Experienced” news users have embodied knowledge of how to most efficiently use their devices. Especially avid news users have “quick” news sessions not because they are uninterested or disengaged but because they are very efficient at scanning the environment and picking out relevant information. Third, the experience of time is device and platform dependent. Television and radio are typically used in a lean-back mode, and reading the newspaper is usually experienced as a moment of relaxation. On digital news media, on the other hand, the experience of time often becomes intensified, and having to spend more time hinders an efficient experience.
