An empirical verification of social time theories: investigating digitally induced temporal change in Germany and China

ABSTRACT Current research on social time and temporal change theories have not yet investigated the nature of this change in depth through hypothesis testing endeavours. In this paper we respond to this research desiderate through creating quantitative empirical proof for Germany and China. Our findings are based on theories of temporal digital change and the third level of digital divide, i.e. online use vs. non-use concerning time, the rural-urban divide, and the gender divide. We show that digital media enhance the focus on social time, namely 8 out of 9 dimensions of temporal understanding as a specific form of how people deal with and plan time in Germany and China. Moreover, there are significant differences between online users and off-liners both within and across the countries. The degree of urbanization proves to have an influence on temporal digital change, while gender differences were not found to be significant in our study.