Reading and watching in the time of pandemic (on the basis of a survey among students). Research

Abstract

The article demonstrates the results of the research which was carried out during the first year of the COVID 19 pandemic. The research included the reading practices among students, and the extent to which they used audio-visual media. The pandemic and its limitations resulted in rapid changes in all spheres of social life, economy, culture, and education. They also affected the everyday life of young people (including students). The article demonstrates the results of survey research conducted among the students of information architecture at the University of Maria Curie-Skłodowska in Lublin in March 2021. The research included the analysis of students’ behaviour in their free time and some selected indicators of the reading practices, with particular attention to the intensity of reading and the reading choices. The intensity and preferences of the use of audio-visual media was included. The potential differences between the time before pandemic and the period of isolation were also taken into account. I also discussed the specificity of book market in Poland, and I considered the context of the general changes in book market in Europe and other continents which were affected by the pandemic.