It takes at least two to tango: A population-level perspective on interrelated patterns of media use

Abstract

We introduce a population-level perspective on the longstanding debate on displacement versus complementarity by recognizing that an individual’s social interactions are dependent on emerging media use patterns in the wider population. Our longitudinal, cross-regional analyses at the population-level and individual-level indicate that two opposing forces coexist: individual Internet use and individual face-to-face (f2f) interaction are positively correlated, suggesting complementarity. However, local peers’ Internet use and individual f2f interactions are negatively related, suggesting displacement. Interestingly, when social networking site uptake is high, individual Internet non-use is associated with a more pronounced negative association between peers’ Internet use and individual-level f2f interactions. We discuss the implications of coexisting individual-level complementarity and population-level displacement for both users and non-users.