Towards a Common Theoretical Framework—And Some Remarks on the Politics of Innerlichkeit

In our post-face, we discuss the intellectual traditions that have inspired communication researchers when conceptualizing and theorizing how we use the media. We reflect on the contribution of the articles in this volume to this particular approach to media use. We then try to contextualize the “how” of media use with regard to how we experience all kinds of worlds that we live in and how we modify this experience. Starting from this review and contextualization, we call for a synthesis, identify theoretical, empirical and methodological desiderata. Finally, we consider the critical potential of research on how we use the media.