This article investigates the importance of popular media in everyday life, more specifically in everyday girl culture. Based on eight months of ethnographic research with a group of 8th graders (ages 11—12), it explores the role of media in an everyday setting: the classroom. The study is informed by two central research questions: how do girls use media in the classroom and how important are media to their everyday life? It aims to provide an empirical, theoretical and methodological contribution to existing literature. First, it empirically contributes to our knowledge of everyday media use in general and in the school context specifically. Second, it adds to theory about audiences, more precisely about the media’s role in identity practices. Third, it shows how different methods produce different results about the importance of media.
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