My research question is “How does digital media affect personality and contribute to superficial communication and cultural populism？”
Digital media is an interactive communication medium based on the Internet, like mobile phones, computers, digital entertainment devices, the algorithmic rules of the Internet, superficial communication is with the development of media, people have more opportunities to connect and meet others without face-to-face interaction, but it’s rare to truly understand and connect with someone on a deeper level. Cultural populism” is a viewpoint that regards the cultural experiences and activities of ordinary people as more politically meaningful and worthy of consideration than high culture.
my stakeholders are the container people of generation z. container people in the era of mass communication, addiction to intelligent media leads humans to live in a mutually independent and isolated People’s inner world seems like a canned container, and the individual’s self is closed inside. The development of the internet has led to an online industry, where fat geeks are able to solve their clothing, food, housing, transportation and entertainment online, and they prefer to stay at home rather than go out, reducing offline communication. The key behaviors of container people are five.
- Addicted to electronic entertainment and social networking
- Like to communicate with people online and escape from reality
- Emotional on the Internet and actively participate in public opinion discussions
- easy to be influenced by consumerist culture and consume too much
- like to use cyber-symbol-language
Why
The influence of the media on human beings, both good and bad, has reached unprecedented levels not previously achieved by the one-way communication of newspapers and broadcasts, and this influence, especially the negative effects, exceeds a certain extreme and can have a certain degree of negative impact on people.
For People:
- Escaping reality and becoming addicted to the entertainment world inside screens.
- Objectifying interpersonal relationships and becoming indifferent.
- Having a short attention span and losing the ability for deep thinking and coping with negativity.
- Disrupting circadian rhythm, affecting sleep, feeling lonely, and becoming emotional.
For Society:
- Leading to social polarization.
- Undermine public perception, falling into the post-truth era.
Cultural populism is a kind of cultural expression against cultural monopoly and hegemony. It excessively caters to the consumption interests of citizens. That causes the loss of consciousness of reflection and criticism. The world of entertainment and vulgar, therefore, flourish. It is a great Spectacle for immersion. Individual as container human becomes a reality.
How
About my intervention I will anonymously release personality test questions that appear innocent to test my research question, similar to MBTI. I will read relevant psychology I will read books on psychology, develop measures of digital media influence on personality, and develop quiz.
What if
The reflection on container people is that container people are immersed in their own container world built with digital media, immersed in cultural populism, they use their culture against authority and refuse to communicate, but their expressions are fragmented, and I hope to use this test to help them realise this and come into reality.
26 May
I have a more exact definition of the digital media in my question: since my takeholder is Generation Z, I researched the most popular apps for Generation Z. The number one app was tiktok, the
Why tiktok
Tik tok’s recommendation algorithm is based on interest, with 76% of Generation Z saying tik tok is for comedy and humour, the kind of comedy that helped them get through the pandemic. So somehow when people are faced with difficult pressures, they choose social networks for a temporary escape.
TikTok is an egalitarian space where anyone can go viral, and anyone can speak with the same volume as big brands or influencers. That makes it a rewarding place to create, too.
There is a concept called cultural saccharin, which is a metaphorical concept used to describe the overly sweet, deliberately popular or mass-appealing features of certain cultural products. This may include some commercial pop music, commercial films, short online videos, etc.
I consider some online cultural content, mainly tiktok, to be a form of cultural saccharin, and these cultures contribute to cultural populism
Impact of digital media on personality:
Self-presentation and self-identity: social media presents everyone with an idealised version of themselves, which has an impact on an individual’s self-identity and creates a disconnect from their true self.
Social comparison and anxiety: Social media has changed the way people interact socially. While it provides people with a broader social network, it can also lead to more shallow relationships and fewer opportunities for face-to-face interaction. People who rely too heavily on social media may feel isolated and lack authentic human connection and support.
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Note the importance of keeping data collection neutral and transparent to avoid bias. Potential barriers to TikTok, narrowing demographics. Need to document evidence and obtain permission from participants to collect potentially sensitive data, while giving them the option to remain anonymous.
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9 June
My question is, how does digital media influence personality and promote cultural populism?
So I will be doing an intervention on this issue.
My target group is white collar workers and students in big cities in China who love to watch short videos in genz.
My hypothesis is that white-collar workers and students are under pressure to work and study, so they seek social media as a temporary escape from reality, they are more receptive to new things, and they are also susceptible to these things, such as consumerist culture, online symbolic language, and internet public opinion. Chinese censorship, and algorithmic technology have led them to make their own choices about the vast amount of information available on the internet, which they believe is only what some authorities want you to see, so they seek out unique content.
My intervention was to organise a workshop with an audience who are active on social media, asking questions about what they do when they are under pressure, how they deal with pressure, how they feel when they are overloaded with information, how they perceive authority on the internet and other topics related to digital media in a simple, unguided discussion.
At the end of the workshop, prepare some questions to analyse the impact of digital media on individuals
How often do you open social media platforms to do one thing and wind up endlessly scrolling without realizing it?
How often do you check your social media platforms while interacting with other people?
How often do you find yourself scrolling through social media pages “for no good
reason”?
How often do you automatically scroll through social media pages without a purpose?
How often do you continuously scroll your social media pages out of habit?
How often do you find yourself scrolling through social media platforms without realizing why you did it?
How often have you realized you scrolled through social media platforms only after you have already been scrolling through?
How often do you find yourself continuously scrolling through social media pages absentmindedly?
How often do you wind up continuously scrolling through social media pages for longer than you intended to?
How often do you lose track of time while continuously scrolling through social media pages?
The next step in the research will be based on the responses to the intervention.