Media dreaming and media consumption – An online study

Abstract

A thematic continuity between waking and dreaming has been replicated for various waking activities. Today media consumption plays an important role in waking life and, thus, one would expect a fair amount of media dreams. This online included 1966 participants with a wide age range. The questionnaires elicited media consumption, the perceived involvement during media consumption and percentage of media dreams. Eight media types were analyzed: nonfiction books, fictional books, news programs, entertainment programs, action programs, action games, entertainment games and social media. Ordinal regression analyses indicated that within all eight categories the amount of waking activity correlated significantly with corresponding media dream percentage. Additionally, the factor involvement while using the media type in waking life had a significant impact on the percentage of media dreams. To conclude, media consumption and media involvement influence one’s dreams and, thus, the continuity hypothesis was confirmed. Future studies should examine the correlation in a longitudinal design in order to investigate the relationship between waking and dreaming over a longer time span and with more variables included, such as daily media consumption and personality.