The session will investigate the relationships between the technological innovation and the media consumption, in particular but not exclusively, among the younger generations. The basis for the analysis will be the results of three years of research from the Permanent Observatory on Digital Content.

It is clear how the digital technologies tend to amplify, even more than the traditional media, the differences among those who have access and those who, for economical or cultural reasons, do not have access. Furthermore a big gap is emerging among those who use technologies in a fully developed, creative and mature way, integrating them in the social and working daily life, and those who follow technological innovation in a passive way, buying the newest cell phone as a status symbol and then using only its most basic functionalities…

Every day young people (3/29 years old) use all the technological devices (PC, cell phone, consoles) and Internet. Among them there are no gender differences, boys and girls have the same intensity of use. The differences may lie on the kind of usage, more communication and social activities for the girls, more games and focus on the technological aspects for the boys. Their so-called “media diet” is very complex and integrated. They do not abandon traditional media but overlap with the new media, and, thanks to their ability to multitask, they use more media, devices and functionalities at the same time.

How can publishers answer the needs of this new generation of readers?

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