There have been a lot of changes from fifty years ago to nowadays in the way people use the media every day. Of course the offer in 1960 was very little compared to 2010. A term that is often used is media convergence and it implies changes not only in the media but in many other aspects as well: “This convergence is not just a technological process. Media convergence must also be seen as having a cultural logic of its own, blurring the lines between economics (work) and culture (meaning), between production and consumption, between making and using media and between active or passive spectatorship of mediated culture.”(3) The culture of consumption has evolved. Now the public has so many choices of different media that it is almost overwhelming. They can find almost everything they want and in a handful of different forms.
Overall all this drives people to consume the media more than before. A few statistics are going to illustrate that fact. For instance the use of the television has grown almost constantly since 1960. On the graphic below the numbers from 1985 to 2007 can be seen:
(4)
In 1960, people only watched television 110 minutes pro day (not on the graphic). This means that from 1960 to 2010, the time went from 110 to 164 minutes. This is a raise of 50% in fifty years.
The case of the television is not necessarily representative of all the other media. For instance the radio and the press are not as much consumed as before. The audience of both has slightly decreased from 1960 to nowadays. But it is overall that the consumption has grown. There are a lot more different media than earlier and people are always connected in today‟s society. If a major news event would happen today, then almost everybody in Switzerland would know it in the next few hours. This was clearly not the case a few years back. We are surrounded from all parts with access to media now and it is in a way difficult to escape from it.
3 Deuze, p.148
4 http://www.bfs.admin.ch/bfs/portal/fr/index/themen/16/03/key/ind16.indicator.16010303.160202.html?open=1#1
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