Media Consumption in Ecuador: Are Ultramediaciones Developing for Everyone?

Resumen

Ultramediaciones is a concept developed by the authors that proposes that connectivity dominates beyond devices.In this sense, connectivity is not only on the Internet: it occurs in the digital and analogic world in the relationships that people create.It studies how a detonator (energy) generates, from communication, connections (frequency) and brings together interests (vibration) that affect the understanding of the environment.Moreover, the original energy from communication is capable of modifying social function and life.This theory is based on media ecology, social mediation, and hipermediations.This research explores how ultramediaciones work in Ecuador depending on age and geography (rural vs urban).This quantitative study uses the data collected at the Multipurpose Survey for 2019 and the Employment Survey 2022 from the National Institute of Censuses and Statistics (INEC) in Ecuador.The aim is to explore the evolution of use, appropriation, and potentialities of digitality and communication, based on the concept-under-development of ultramediaciones.It discusses that the country is facing an increase in the cultural gap: citizens are increasingly distancing themselves from each other, making it difficult for digital citizenship to consolidate.Digitality is creating an environment that just 63,2% of the population shares and that just 16,15% is capable to create, modifying, or even understanding.