The impact of broader media choice on political behavior is central to the study of political communication. The availability of high-speed Internet, which allows for high bandwidth media on demand, has given consumers virtually unlimited information choices. Most research assumes that the time spent online is fixed; therefore, broader media choice decreases news consumption, political knowledge, and turnout, especially among the politically uninterested. In this article, I explore another possibility: as Internet quality improves, we spend more time online and consume more information, which subsequently increases knowledge and turnout. To test this possibility, I link geocoded Internet download speed data with survey data. A series of studies indicate that higher quality Internet increases political information search, news consumption, and political knowledge, although perhaps not turnout. This work suggests that our assumption of trade-offs between news consumption and entertainment may need reconsideration.

中文翻译：

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更大的馅饼：高速互联网对政治行为的影响

广泛的媒体选择对政治行为的影响是政治传播研究的核心。高速Internet的可用性允许按需使用高带宽媒体，从而为消费者提供了几乎无限的信息选择。大多数研究假设在线花费的时间是固定的。因此，更广泛的媒体选择会减少新闻的消费，政治知识和投票率，尤其是那些对政治不感兴趣的人。在本文中，我探讨了另一种可能性：随着Internet质量的提高，我们将更多的时间花在上网和消费更多的信息上，从而增加了知识和投票率。为了测试这种可能性，我将经过地理编码的Internet下载速度数据与调查数据链接在一起。一系列研究表明，更高质量的互联网会增加政治信息搜索，新闻消费，和政治知识，尽管可能没有参加。这项工作表明我们在新闻消费和娱乐之间权衡取舍的假设可能需要重新考虑。