Digital Back-Feeding Of Chinese Families:Overview,Influential Factors And Effects

Currently,two of the most dramatic transitions facing Chinese society have been the population aging and digitalization.The digital technologies are evolving increasingly new,while the population is ageing rapidly.Resultantly,the elderly on the one hand is "struggling" in today's digitalized society due to the lack of access to the Internet.On the other hand,the different adoption and use patterns of new media among family members who from different generational cohorts have created a so-called "digital generation gap".And this new generation gap had a negative impact on parent-child relationship,deepening intergenerational differences and even conflicts.In order to help the older generation digitally included and reduce the digital generation gap within the family,the younger generation plays an essential role in educating older generation in digital access,use skills and literacy.Focusing on the internal field of Chinese families,this research investigated the digital back-feeding phenomenon from the individual profile(older generation to the digital back-feeding profile)to the family dynamic(the intergenerational interactions),inspecting the overview of digital back-feeding,Comparing the differences between the neighbors and the generations.The present study has further analyzed the factors affecting digital back-feeding,summarized the situation of of digital back-feeding and explored the effects of digital back-feeding.In terms of research methodology,this study combined with quantitative and qualitative approaches,by using survey,autobiographical report and in-depth interview.The questionnaire surveyed 3,291 samples of 954 families in 54 cities across the country.A total of 40 families of autobiographical reports have been analyzed and 7 elderly and 2 young people were interviewed.The main research findings are as follows:Firstly,most older generations learn to use We-Chat through the back-feeding of the younger generation,and the proportion of older generations who master each skill from the younger generation is significantly higher than that of the middle-agedgeneration.In terms of digital literacy,the proportion of older generations receiving information literacy from the younger generations is much higher than that of popular culture.Age,education level and perceived characteristics all affect the older generation's acceptance of digital back-feeding.Secondly,among different intergenerational pairs,the order of the proportion of digital access and skill back-feeding from small to large is grandparent pairing <middle and young age parent-child pairing < middle-aged parent-child pairing.In terms of the digital literacy back-feeding,the grandparents pairing shows a reversal.Intergenerational back-feeding and neighboring back-feeding complement each other and are in a relay mode.For the personal factors,the age,education level,perceived characteristics of the older generation;the education level,the perceived characteristics and the willingness to support of the younger generation have significant influence on digital back-feeding.For the family factors,the distance of residence,the instrumental connection,the common activities at home,the intergenerational support and the common values have a certain impact on the different levels of digital back-feeding.Thirdly,digital back-feeding is a home-based classroom model,at home +vacation is the most common form of back-feeding.Digital back-feeding has reshaped the life of the older generation by empowerment--expressing information empowerment,tool-empowerment,social-empowerment,and-entertainment-empowerment.It increased the voice of young generation in the family,and the traditional elder-dominated family power structure has transformed into an elder-younger two-way authority model.Digital back-feeding has promoted family intimacy,however,it has also brought some negative effects.It has reflected the deeply-rooted "face culture" in China--fighting for face,loving face and gaining face phenomenon.Finally,I discussed the redefinition of "intimacy" by digital back-feeding.As the effect of "traditional blood relatives" has shown a decay.New media can be used a bridge to strength these traditional family relations.Family members have re-established "intimate relationships" in the process of back-feeding and the virtual space of the Internet.From the perspective of the younger generation and the oldergeneration,the strategies for promoting digital back-feeding are given.The younger generation should pay attention to the timing and skills of back-feeding.The older generation should change their mindset and actively embrace the Internet.At the social level,I called for science and technology to be good to the digitally vulnerable groups.Digital back-feeding has narrowed the digital generation gap to some extent,but still cannot bridge the gap.