Digital Media and Traditional Political Participation Over Time in the U.S.
- 4 February 2013
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Informa UK Limited in Journal of Information Technology & Politics
- Vol. 10 (2), 125-137
- https://doi.org/10.1080/19331681.2013.769925
Abstract
Research shows that digital media use is positively related to political participation. However, this relationship does not appear in all studies. To date, researchers have generally treated inconsistent findings from study to study and from election to election as an empirical problem that reflects differences in measurement and model specification. In this article, we question the assumption that a consistent relationship between Internet use and political participation should exist over time. We test this expectation using 12 years of data from the American National Election Studies. Our findings support the expectation that a general measure of Internet use for political information is not consistently related to six acts of traditional political participation across elections.Keywords
This publication has 16 references indexed in Scilit:
- Stimulating or Reinforcing Political Interest: Using Panel Data to Examine Reciprocal Effects Between News Media and Political InterestPolitical Communication, 2011
- Good News for the Future? Young People, Internet Use, and Political ParticipationCommunication Research, 2011
- “Technology Is a Commodity”: The Internet in the 2008 United States Presidential ElectionJournal of Information Technology & Politics, 2010
- Campaigns, Reflection, and Deliberation: Advancing an O-S-R-O-R Model of Communication EffectsCommunication Theory, 2009
- Direct and Differential Effects of the Internet on Political and Civic EngagementJournal of Communication, 2007
- Online Participation in the UK: Testing a ‘Contextualised’ Model of Internet EffectsThe British Journal of Politics and International Relations, 2005
- Information and Expression in a Digital AgeCommunication Research, 2005
- Unraveling the Effects of the Internet on Political Participation?Political Research Quarterly, 2003
- Information and Political Engagement in America: The Search for Effects of Information Technology at the Individual LevelPolitical Research Quarterly, 2001
- 1998 Ithiel De Sola Pool Lecture: The UnCivic Culture: Communication, Identity, and the Rise of Lifestyle PoliticsPS: Political Science and Politics, 1998