AbstractIn this chapter we again test the post-exposure processing (PEP) model, this time focusing on the cause and consequences of attenuated attention to news content on mobile devices. Again using two laboratory experiments featuring eye tracking we find mobile users endure significantly higher cognitive costs when they process news relative to computer users. The result is less learning from news read on smartphones as opposed to news read on computers, a divide that grows when we look at the effects over time. These results lend support to the PEP model, and in particular add further support that the mechanism at work in the mobile context is increased cognitive effort, which makes news seeking on mobile devices more effortful.
