The Role of Television in Spanish Households

Abstract

For some now years a trend has been observed in Spain revealing that the totemic character of television, and in particular, as an important element in family socialization processes, is changing. This fact coupled with the effect of multitasking seems to have led to the decline of the king of the household. Our starting hypothesis in this study was that, despite all the evolutions and mutations, television continues to play a central role in Spanish households. In 2017, the research institute Punto de Fuga, launched the foundational study “Las mil y una familias” [A Thousand and One Families] as an x-ray of Spanish families. In that study, the following methodologies were applied: 100 ethnographic interviews and 2000 surveys. Household television consumption shows that families are looking for shared moments and therefore they use television as an important element for “family communion”.