COMMERCIAL MEDIA VIEWING HABITS: DIGITAL NATIVES VS. DIGITALIMMIGRANTSBrian J. KingA ThesisSubmitted to the Graduate College of Bowling Green State University in partial fulfillment of therequirements for the degree of MASTERS OF EDUCATIONDecember 2009Committee:Dr. Terry Herman, AdvisorDr. Paul CesariniDr. Gary Benjamin

iiiABSTRACTTerry Herman, PhD, AdvisorPrior research has proposed that, based on their age, people relate to the contemporarydigital environment in different ways. Those under 30 have been in contact with the digital worldsince birth and use the technology with ease. Those who are 30 and over are immigrants to thistechnology and adapt at a slower pace as a result.In this thesis, the researcher studied aspects of this digital divide related to the habits of the two groups with regard to commercial media viewing and the importance of various methodsto circumvent viewing of commercials when using various viewing modes.The study group was limited to faculty, staff, and students at Bowling Green StateUniversity in Ohio. The research employed quantitative analysis of responses to Likert scalesurvey questions as well as review of qualitative data from open-ended questions. The researchconsidered viewing and circumventing commercials via traditional TV; traditional TV coupledwith DVR, TiVo, or similar technologies; and online methods. The research was limited totraditional commercial approaches and did not take into account emerging “pull type” orcontextual methods of advertising.