of the procrastination economy are the media equivalent of the snack-food industry.
Spigel and Dawson see the “ ‘social arrhythmia’ of the new 24/7/365 post-industrial information economy” as inciting television networks to give up on their familiar day parts and strategic targeting of audiences on the basis of the eight-hour workday.80 While there have been changes to the workday and increased demands on consumers’ attention, entertainment companies still attempt to define the context of the mobile spectator. Whereas Spigel and Dawson see “flexible leisure” as the logic behind on-demand content, a closer look at the media industries’ efforts reveals that day-part programming is alive and well. The procrastination economy is filled with examples of content and services purposefully designed to target the media snacking habits of people at work, in the waiting room, during the commute, and in the “connected” living room. On-demand services give consumers some control over how and when they use content, but media companies still make decisions about curation and accessibility. The chapters that follow demonstrate how digital platforms deploy strategies based on beliefs about consumers’ behavior in particular spatial contexts. As a result, mobile devices are defined by the logics of the procrastination economy.
2
The Workplace
Snacks and Flows
The midday spike in Web traffic is not a new phenomenon, but media companies have started responding in a meaningful way over the last year. They are creating new shows, timing the posts to coincide with hunger pangs. And they are rejiggering the way they sell advertising online, recognizing that noontime programs can command a premium.
—Brian Stetler, “Noontime Web Video Revitalizes Lunch at Desk,” New York Times, January 5, 2008
As the Internet became a common workplace tool in the 1990s, the New York Times, like the majority of news outlets, circulated stories about the dangers of “cyberslacking,” which included such observations as “surfing the Net, it seems, can make the desktop computer anything but an employee productivity tool.”1 The anxiety over digital distractions supports a cottage industry of digital management manuals designed to help employers and employees resist the temptation to click. An Amazon.com search for “productivity” returns reams of manuals and management guides that provide strategies for combatting this annoying “illness.”2 Stories about Internet use at work reflect larger concerns about the way mobile devices and Internet access in general steal time from more productive tasks. Despite these concerns, several studies have shown that “media snacking” can be restorative and actually increase productivity and creativity.3
Given research that shows that digital procrastination “may act as ‘digital watercooler’—enhancing workers’ productivity and effectiveness,” it is important to understand how these media snacks are made and for whom.4 Wired contributor Nancy Miller describes the concept of “snackable” media as the dominant mode of media engagement in the digital era: “Today, media snacking is a way of life. In the morning, we check news and tap out emails on our laptops. At work, we graze all day on videos and blogs. Back home, the giant HDTV is for 10-course feasting—say, an entire season of 24. In between are the morsels that fill those whenever minutes, as your mobile phone carrier calls them: a 30-second game on your Nintendo DS, a 60-second webisode on your cell, and a three-minute podcast on your MP3 player.”5 The relationship between “snacking” and “feasting” described by Miller also describes the hopes of media companies, that viewers will use their break times as appetizers—teasers for the “main course” of prime-time television or new film releases. Despite the designs of the procrastination economy, snacking can be more than just an amuse-bouche; it can be an indulgence and a rebellion as well. Digital content designed for the workplace is sustenance that helps certain people cope with the demands of their workday.
The workplace has always been an important location for social interaction; digital technologies make these activities more visible. Media studies scholars have encouraged a nuanced approach, producing research that considers social context as a contributing factor to cultural understanding. Much of this analysis takes social factors such as gender and class into account, although few scholars have examined specific sites such as the workplace.6 Digital content—whether in the form of movies, sporting events, social media feeds, television shows, websites, or games—provides a foundation for discussion around the virtual watercooler, break room, or lunch table. These discussions are part of the rhythms of the workday, bringing levity and camaraderie that help a place of employment feel like a community. In addition, media content can act as a common language for dealing with the local politics of the office or the larger politics of the nation.
In this chapter, I argue that the procrastination economy gives certain workers the ability to manage their workday with “media snacks.” Certain snacks correspond with the time of day or the work activity. The procrastination economy provides an endless variety of media snacks to ensure people can find the flavor, texture, and indulgence appropriate to their circumstances. Media companies support this workday media snacking in an effort to build programming flow, labor flow, and platform flow that can carry audiences and industry workers from one franchise, service, and product to another. While there are many types of media snacks available to the workplace audience, the media industries privileges those audience members who are most interested in checking in, catching up, and commenting on the latest headlines dominating cultural conversation. While audiences are free to use their mobile devices to spend their lunch breaks texting and catching up with loved ones, there is a consistent effort by media companies to entice the workplace audience to spend “snack time” with their intellectual property.
The Value of Snacking: Analysis of the Workplace Audience
Research on workplace procrastination shows that certain kinds of media snacks are more likely to support productivity than other kinds of media snacks.7 In addition, gender, relationship status, personality type, and workload contribute to the frequency and effects of media snacking.8 These studies demonstrate that snacking is related to a variety of contextual and social issues. Marshall McLuhan famously described media technology as “extensions of ourselves,” arguing, “the personal and social consequences of any medium—that is, of any extension of ourselves—result from the new scale that is introduced into our affairs by each extension of ourselves, or by any new technology.”9 While McLuhan has been criticized for his tendency toward technological determinism, he aptly describes the way media technologies amplify “the scale and form of human association and action.”10 For example, workers already use media content in their work lives during break times and in conversation with coworkers. Mobile devices are tools for expanding this activity because they can include more participants and provide dynamic digital content that stimulates discussion. As digital technology and the ability to record usage of it proliferate, audience practices that were long ignored by entertainment companies begin to reveal themselves.
Mobile devices have enhanced media snacking at the workplace in two key ways: via mobility and choice. The fact that mobile devices are portable means that people can now do their media snacking in a variety of situations. This snacking is not limited to the break room but can happen at any time people need assistance from their mobile devices. Not only does this portability increase the utility of media snacking, but the access to a variety of content means that people can select the best snack for the occasion. Some situations call for audiocentric snacking, others require a short video, and sometimes people like to gather to watch a whole episode of a show. While mobile devices expand the possibilities for snacking, the use of mobile devices is still determined by routines. Multiple studies have shown that media snacking occurs within the flow of routines and becomes habitual, making it predictable and planned in relation to social factors.11 The types of media snacking relate to the social dynamics of the workplace and the routines of the workday. Mobile devices are a tool that enables workers to optimize their snacking for particular circumstances.
Evidence
