Alienation and Use of the Mass Media

Abstract

A general assumption is that alienation correlates with consumption of escape-type content from the mass media. In the study reported here this was not observed. In order to interpret this result alienation was considered as a process beginning with difficulties in situation definitions. Assumedly the 'heavy' information of the mass media offers such definitions. In the beginning of the alienation process people thus feel difficulties in defining the situations and assumedly react in such a situation compensatively, with heightened intake of 'heavy' information. If this does not help in defining the situations, a second reaction, restriction of or withdrawal from 'heavy' information is plausible. Some results supported this interpretation, but there were conflicting results, too.