New technology@home: impacts on usage behavior and social structures

Abstract

Studying domestic usage contexts has become an important field in research. Recent technological improvements have made media available on different devices, in different contexts and from different places. The adoption and appropriation of new devices and technologies has led to a more flexible usage behavior. However, even if we know about such a behavior, many questions, regarding how new technology changes the user's media usage and how these changes affect the social structure in a household, are still unanswered. We will address this topic in our work and want to provide an insight on how recent media consumption patterns have changed due to the appropriation of new technologies in the home. Based on a qualitative long-term Living Lab study we will present various patterns based on changes in media usage routines and their influences on households as social systems. The results provide a detailed understanding of how the new technology is embedded within domestic life by considering potentials and conflicts that also address further design oriented work.