Reading Online: Young University Students' Experience with Internet Reading

Abstract

The popularization of mobile devices in the everyday life of Mexico City's broad socio-cultural sectors, particularly the cell phone, calls attention to the fact that young people read and write permanently, from the moment they wake up to the time they go to bed. They receive and answer dozens of messages throughout the day, and they search and publish all kinds of information. Nonetheless, surveys that measure reading practices leave out questions about these experiences, and subjects, when questioned about their reading habits and preferences, don't mention nor recognize them in their answers. These observations led us to ethnography traditional and emergent reading and writing practices and representations that young people studying Communication in a public university have. Its main results are reviewed in this paper.