This ethnographic study aims to better understand how media audiences use media and face-to-face communication in public space. With the growing availability and fast development of new technologies in contemporary societies, we are witnessing the ubiquity of media in city squares, among other settings. Due to the lack of research around the topic of media in public spaces in general, this project explores media usage and meanings given to it by media audiences in public spaces such as city squares. This study will also discover the interweaving nature of media use, such as communication with absent others, and face-to-face communication. The importance of city squares and mobile phones in contemporary social life are central points of this ethnographic study undertaken in two city squares in Zagreb, Croatia – Ban Josip Jelačić Square and Trešnjevački Square. With the help of field notes and ethnographic qualitative interviews, this study confirms that urban pedestrians use media as a means of isolation from physical surroundings, but that it is more often solely a form of absent presence or a form of a certain sense of place rather than complete isolation. Moreover, another important finding of this research is the fact that face-to-face communication is frequently immediate with media usage, primarily mobile phone usage. I conclude that media usage is rooted in the forms of habitation in city squares, just as face-to-face communication is of great value to pair and group meetings in spaces of two Zagreb squares.