Digital omnivores in perpetual contact: media mobility from the ecological perspective

Abstract

The fast configuration of digital environment that occurs in these first decades of the twenty ‑first century has involved the usage of devices used simultaneously to consume content in domestic and labor spaces, also during on ‑the ‑move situations. The emergence of this vast multi‑ platform digital landscape encourages knowing the ways of using or not these ubiquitous devices. “Digital omnivores” form a new group of end users whose name refers to platforms these individuals use to access Internet, in an individual or multiplatform way. This paper proposes a literature review about the uses and appropriations of mobile media by digital omnivores that seeks to situate them as an integrating element of a complex contemporary media ecosystem. It also looks to point out how this ecosystem has transformed social practices toward the “perpetual contact” (Katz & Aakhus, 2004). In order to address the aspects of the impact of mobile media by a socio ‑scientific perspective, authors such as Haddon (2001), Ling & Donner (2009), Hartmann (2013) and Chen (2015) ground the theoretical and conceptual framework of the proposed discussion, referring to the idea of media consumption from the mobility paradigm.