Audiobook routines: identifying everyday reading by listening practices amongst young adults
| Date | 06 December 2021 |
| Pages | 266-281 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/JD-06-2021-0116 |
| Published date | 06 December 2021 |
| Subject Matter | Library & information science,Records management & preservation,Document management,Classification & cataloguing,Information behaviour & retrieval,Collection building & management,Scholarly communications/publishing,Information & knowledge management,Information management & governance,Information management,Information & communications technology,Internet |
| Author | Elisa Tattersall Wallin |
Audiobook routines: identifying
everyday reading by listening
practices amongst young adults
Elisa Tattersall Wallin
Swedish School of Library and Information Science, University of Bor
as,
Bor
as, Sweden
Abstract
Purpose –This article explores, identifies and conceptualises everyday audiobook reading practices amongst
young adults.
Design/methodology/approach –Semi-structured interviews were conducted with ten Swedish audiobook
users aged 18–19. The material was analysed using qualitative content analysis and focused on their
audiobook use during an average weekday, as this was the time that they listened the most. The theoretical
framework consists of theories on practice, time and everyday routine.
Findings –Five timespaces emerged when audiobook practices were most prevalent: morning routines,
commuting routines, school routines, after school routines and bedtime routines. Within these timespaces,
several practices could be identified and conceptualised. Three mobile practices were commute listening,
exercise listening and chore listening while more stationary practices were homework listening, schoolwork
listening and leisure listening. An unexpected finding was how audiobooks routinely were used to aid
respondents’wellbeing. This wellbeing listening was used to alleviate stress, loneliness and help listeners relax
or fall asleep. Furthermore, respondents switch between Music, Audiobooks and Podcasts, which is
conceptualised as MAP-switching.
Originality/value –There is a scarcity of research on audiobook use, and this paper contributes with new
knowledge on audiobook reading practices, how audiobooks fit into everyday routine and provides concepts to
aid further research on audiobook practices.
Keywords Audiobooks, Reading practice, Reading by listening, Everyday routine, Young adults,
Digital books, Audio book, Subscription service, Streaming
Paper type Research paper
Introduction
This article explores everyday audiobook reading practice s amongst young adults.
Audiobooks have been rising in popularity in recent years and are becoming part of
everyday routines for many people (Have and Stougaard Pedersen, 2020;Tattersall Wallin
and Nolin, 2020). In Sweden, where this study is set, there has been an increase in audiobook
use amongst young adults aged 16–29. Young adults are some of the most avid readers of
audiobooks, together with people aged 30–49 (Wallin et al., 2021). The most common way of
accessing audiobooks are subscription services for digital books, but they can also be
downloaded from libraries and online bookshops (Wallin et al., 2021). Access to Internet
connection and use of Internet services and digital technology is very high among the
JD
78,7
266
© Elisa Tattersall Wallin. Published by Emerald Publishing Limited. This article is published under the
Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY 4.0) licence. Anyone may reproduce, distribute, translate and
create derivative works of this article (for both commercial and non-commercial purposes), subject to full
attribution to the original publication and authors. The full terms of this licence may be seen at http://
creativecommons.org/licences/by/4.0/legalcode
The author would like to thank Jan Nolin, David Gunnarsson Lorentzen and Anna Lundh for reading
and discussing different drafts of this article. Thank you also to the young people who participated in the
interviews.
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
https://www.emerald.com/insight/0022-0418.htm
Received 17 June 2021
Revised 12 November 2021
Accepted 14 November 2021
Journal of Documentation
Vol. 78 No. 7, 2022
pp. 266-281
Emerald Publishing Limited
0022-0418
DOI 10.1108/JD-06-2021-0116
Swedish population, and along with its Nordic neighbours the country has one of the more
advanced digital economies of the EU (European Commission, 2020). Furthermore, several of
the internationally active audiobook subscription services are Swedish. Use of various
streaming and subscription services is widespread, and 70% of Swedish households have
access to streaming services for music and film and 21% have a subscription service for
audiobooks and e-books (Nordicom, 2021). Young people exceed the national average, with
31% of people aged 15–19 having access to an audiobook subscription service
(Nordicom, 2021).
In lives experienced as harried, finding time for recreation and relaxation is often talked of
as quality time (Pentzold et al., 2020). Just like watching films or listening to music, book
reading can be quality time for some as it offers a break from busy lives and the chance to
concentrate continuously on something disconnected from everyday work (Pentzold et al.,
2020). However, a lack of time may impact how, when and if leisure reading is carried out.
Choosing a different type of text, such as comics instead of books, can make reading possible
in busy lives (Cedeira Serantes, 2016). Similarly, a different format, such as audiobooks or e-
books, can work better in some contexts (Kampen Kristensen, 2019). Audiobook technology
has been continuously developed over the century (Colbjørnsen, 2015). Now, audiobooks are
used with devices like smartphones and headphones (or earbuds) and are available in
conjunction with an array of other activities, at various times and places. Audiobook use may
offer a different level of mobility, compared to traditional reading practices which may be
more stationary (Tattersall Wallin and Nolin, 2020;Tattersall Wallin, 2021). Unlike many
other technologies, the smartphone is not bound to a particular place or time and can be used
virtually anywhere and at any time. Therefore, well-established everyday routines such as
household chores, exercise and leisure activities can be combined with audiobooks. Listening
simultaneously with other activities can be a way of making use of time already occupied,
such as on commutes (Have and Stougaard Pedersen, 2016).
Previous studies have shown that reading by listening creates a shift into how books are
read. In a study based on logs from an audiobook subscription service, temporal patterns
revealed that audiobook listening was more common on weekdays compared to weekends
(Tattersall Wallin and Nolin, 2020). During an average day, listening appeared to be
associated with the work or school day and to bedtime, with audiobook use decreasing during
the typical leisure time of late afternoon and early evening. A significant amount of time was
spent on audiobooks each day, with young women listening on average 90 min and young
men on average 100 min (Tattersall Wallin and Nolin, 2020). In addition to audiobooks,
Swedish young people spend a considerable amount of time on other audio media, with 15–
24-year-old spending 147 min listening to music and 74 min listening to podcasts on an
average day (Nordicom, 2021). It is possible that audiobooks are used in similar ways to music
and podcasts. In an interview study with four adult audiobook users (Have and Stougaard
Pedersen, 2016), it was found that the respondents listened to books during work when
suitable, and during daily commutes between work and home. Respondents noted that
audiobooks provided entertainment and aided their personal development (Have and
Stougaard Pedersen, 2016). This indicates that audiobooks may be an important part in some
peoples’lives. However, there is still a scarcity of contemporary qualitative research on
audiobook reading practices.
The purpose of this article is to identify and conceptualise young adults’audiobook
reading practices and explore how audiobooks fit into everyday routines. By conceptualising
these routine reading practices, the ambition is that they will become visible and that the
concepts can facilitate further research on this topic. In this article, audiobook listening is
studied as a form of reading and is conceptualised as reading by listening, following the
suggestion by Tattersall Wallin (2021). The focus is specifically on digital audiobooks used
via subscription service apps. The empirical material of this article consists of interviews
Audiobook
routines
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