I’ve been fascinated by the recent story about women and DVRs that has been circulating the blogosphere. While we have become used to seeing a male bias in a variety of technologies, perhaps most famously video games, there are fewer where the bias is obviously towards female use. This is such an interesting comment on the balance of power (for lack of a less dramatic phrase) in the use of more traditional media. I for one tend to think that established media will not become marginalized in favor of new media, as some have said, if only because people might want some respite from media saturation in an interactive environment. As the two continue to co-exist and blend, I think we ought to question (not assume) that there is anything fundamentally different about ‘new media.’

I was just reading the Markle Foundation’s report on Children and Interactive Media, which begins to discuss the differing use and perception trends between ‘traditional’ media and ‘new media.’ They discuss media and sociality with regards to adults because there’s only a tiny amount of research on kids, media, and sociality:

Interestingly, non-interactive media (television, videos, movies) were generally social activities, while interactive media (computer and video games, chat rooms, Web sites) were generally solitary activities (Roberts et al., 1999). Clearly, information about the social context of younger children’s media use experiences is needed.

I wonder whether to believe that there is truly a divide between non-interactive and interactive media. Would a growing correlation between gender and media use indicate this?