| Intelligent media technologies have profoundly impacted the structure of modern times.The fragmentation and elasticity of unstructured time and the increased demands on human efficiency in the context of social acceleration have led to individual time anxiety of a modern nature.In this context,people have started to use technology and media to manage their time strategically and dynamically.In the current practice of mediated time management among university students,the author noticed that their use of media has gradually given rise to the phenomenon of self-quantification in the context of data-based existence,which has brought about new features and patterns to the construction of individual’s self-identity in the context of modernity.As a result,this study explores the status of individual self-identity,the mechanisms of its construction and the possible identity crisis in the setting of data-driven existence,in relation to the mediated time management phenomenon of university users of the time management software,Tomato To Do.The study was conducted over five months from August 2022 to August 2022.During the research period,the author conducted participant observation of Tomato To Do’s software and its associated online Weibo talking community,and semi-structured interviews with 18 university users who with more than three months experience of using the software during the online teaching period.The study had three main findings: firstly,the structure of time in the mobile internet era has impacted individuals’ perceptions and behaviors,stimulating strategic time management practices and giving rise to a range of time management software supported by mobile communication devices.The implicit time anxiety of university students,their need for a private mediated timeline,and the reduced focus brought about by the over-connected media have made them the main users of time management software,and they are gradually building their self-identity in the process of quantifying themselves.Secondly,the self-identity construction of university users in the process of mediated time management is divided into four main aspects: self-perception,self-presentation,self-reflection,and self-actualization,each of which presents different characteristics in the context of modern time structure and media.One,in the area of self-perception,individuals use quantitative data as an important object reference for their self-perception and evaluation,they build up a sense of belonging in online media interactions,complementing the integrity of their self-perception through social evaluation in social networks and parallel levels of comparison.In terms of self-representation,the “data self” is faced with two strategies of self-representation: true self-disclosure and false data presentation.The only way to establish a correct self-identity is to accept and actively present the true self on the basis of Giddens’ assertion of the authenticity of the self.With regard to self-reflection,the reflective nature of the individual leads to a phased state of self-identity,with attitudes towards data gradually changing from use,reliance,critical reflection and ultimately drilling to a complementary symbiosis between data and inner perception.Furthermore,in terms of self-actualization,users use the quantitative data summaries in the time management software as an external reference for their growth in stages,and harvest their self-worth and meaning in the production of realistic values and the establishment of personal time zones,completing the self-narrative writing in media.Finally,while advanced technologies help humans to establish new models of self-identity,they also gradually become independent and regulate people in turn,resulting in the alienation of modern technologies and the risk of self-identity in the context of a data-driven existence.The problems of self-convergence,subject-object alienation and digital pressure gradually convey the identity crisis of modernity. |
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