Because computers often rely on visual displays as a way to convey information to a user, recent research suggesting that people have detailed awareness of only a small subset of the visual environment has important implications for human-computer interface design. Equally important to basic limits of awareness is the fact that people often over-predict what they will see and become aware of. Together, basic failures of awareness and people's failure to intuitively understand
A mobile contingency model is introduced and used to guide hypotheses about how the strength of people's habits for using an incumbent medium (here, print newspapers), their degree of adoption of a newer medium (mobile devices), and their attitudes about the importance of professional news sources, influence their use of mobile devices for communication functions including entertainment, interpersonal communication, following news, financial transactions, and e-commerce. Secondary analysis of a 2012 U.S. national phone survey is employed. Older respondents use mobile devices less for all functions, including following news, tend to be loyal print subscribers, and highly agree that it is important for news to be produced by professional news sources. However, when the effect of age is controlled, higher levels of education, and to a lesser extent, income, still significantly predict agreement about the importance of professional news sources. The results demonstrate the crucial impact of news attitudes, and are largely supportive of the mobile contingency model. The most important practical implication
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