More at home, more alone? Youth, digital media and the everyday use of time and space

From a joint temporal and socio-spatial perspective, we examine how young people's everyday lives integrate with the use of digital media. Conceptually, we complement a standard displacement approach by advancing the role of time-space priorities, time elasticities, and online/offline intersections. We use micro-level data concerning youth aged 15-24 years from the Swedish Time-Use Survey, 2010-2011. Using covariate analysis, we compare heavy, medium, and light digital media users on weekdays and weekends. The results contradict expectations of a homogenous group of 'digital natives', also showing that heavy use is still gendered. Heavy users generally spend more time at home, perform more activities alone, and travel less. Heavy use is associated with less time spent on outdoor activity and sports, socializing offline, and watching TV, and more time sleeping at night. Digital media use is highly elastic to available free time on weekdays, but is very differently prioritized on weekends.