Recent research by Taneja et al. suggested that digital infrastructures diminish the generational gap in news use by counteracting preference structures. We expand on this seminal work by arguing that an infrastructural perspective requires overcoming limitations of highly aggregated web tracking data used in prior research. We analyze the individual browsing histories of two representative samples of German Internet users collected in 2012 (N = 2970) and 2018 (N = 2045) and find robust evidence for a smaller generational gap in online news use than commonly assumed. While short news website visits mostly demonstrated infrastructural factors, longer news use episodes were shaped more by preferences. The infrastructural role of social media corresponded with reduced news avoidance and more varied news repertoires. Overall, the results suggest that research needs to reconsider commonly held premises regarding the uses of digital media in modern high-choice settings.

Taneja等人的最新研究。建议数字基础设施通过抵消偏好结构来缩小新闻使用的代沟。我们通过争论基础设施的观点需要克服先前研究中使用的高度聚合的Web跟踪数据的局限性来扩展这一开创性工作。我们分析了2012年（N  = 2970）和2018年（N = 2045年），并找到有力的证据证明在线新闻使用中的代际鸿沟比通常认为的要小。短新闻网站的访问大多显示出基础设施因素，而较长的新闻使用情节则受偏好的影响更大。社交媒体的基础设施作用与减少的新闻回避和更多的新闻形式相对应。总体而言，研究结果表明，研究需要重新考虑在现代高选择环境中使用数字媒体的普遍前提。