Floating Social Interaction: A Study On The Use Of WeChat Of "the Old Drifters" In Chengdu

As the aging of population intensifies in China,the gradual advancement of urbanization leads to a higher social mobility.Owing to dwindling household caused by the one-child policy,more and more elderly people leave their familiar surroundings and own family,following their children to the cities and become “the old drifters”.Nowadays,the Internet and digital media have become an important part of daily life.Social media especially WeChat,which with its simple operation interface,convenient function has become the important tool used by “the old drifters” to maintain social relations and find like-minded people to participate in social activities.The paper adopts quality research method,selects Chengdu,a representative city of new first-tier cities,based on in-depth interviews and online ethnography,conducts a fieldwork on the use of WeChat by the“the old drifters” living in Chengdu.Investigated the social interaction of the “the Old Drifters” and the influence of identity by using WeChat.As a vulnerable group,the elderly have not paid much attention to themselves.There has little social attention and academic research on “the old drifters”.The group is in a state of aphasia in public vision.In the era of mobile internet,with the popularity of WeChat,“the old drifters” are empowered by the media,which not only has a platform to show themselves,but also has the convenience of finding friends with the same aspirations.At the same time,through persistent self-expression in WeChat,multiple identity construction and identity are completed.It is found that WeChat,as a new medium,which has a great significance to “the old drifters” in social interaction and identity formation.Virtual social interaction will eventually return to real life,“the old drifters” bear the pressure from society and life,living on the edge of society and always forgotten by the mainstream society,their real situation is rarely paid attention to by the public,and they keep silent because of media literacy and other issues.The popularity of mobile internet products is fundamental to successful social relationships rather than simple interactions.First of all,WeChat rich functionality provide an extension of time and space for“the old drifters” to communicate with relatives and friends in their hometown.Not only can they express their feelings or share their experiences with their relatives and friends through instant voice or video information at any time or anywhere;Meanwhile,they can also communicate with each other through WeChat Moments by sengding photos,videos or article links,so that they can communicate to each other across regions;the use of WeChat enables them to carry out social exchanges through the Internet,breaking the limitation of communication in reality,no matter from offline to online,or from virtual to reality.Secondly,through daily social interaction,“the old drifters” constantly confirms their identity and realize that they have more possibilities to integrate into urban life.WeChat Group and Moments become the fields for them to create and imagine local culture,and their“Individual Identity” and “Group Identity” is also formed through continuous social interaction.In online space,“the old drifters” play different roles in different situations,and building multiple identities,constantly switching from“Hometown-self” to “Chengdu-self”.The old drifters’ living conditions have changed and integrated in many aspects,and they are still trying to cope with these changes by using social media in their later years.It’s necessary for us to explore how these elderly to use WeChat to find their own path among their different states of transfer,how to experience the loneliness,isolation and alienation of modern urban life,and what wonderful stories there are in the new city.