A Study On Media Practice Of Smartwatch&Smartband From The Perspective Of Materiality

With the development of smart wearable technology and the popularity of relevant devices,how this media technology and relevant mediator relates to people and their bodies and intervenes in their lives has gained attention.The media research paradigm has also shifted from focusing on the content and effects of communication and media-related interactions between various subjects to media materiality,which is the media technology and the fields it shapes.From the perspective of media materiality,taking usage of smartwatches or smartbands among urban youth groups as an entry point,this research attempts to explore how media change people’s physical practices,the social and psychological dynamics behind this change,and how media reconstruct time perception,spatial scenes and relationships.To answer research questions above,this study mainly used the in-depth interview method,supplemented by participatory observation method.By interviewing,this study obtained the usage experience of 16 urban youths who have been using smartwatches or smartbands for at least 4 months.Combined with the results of participatory observation,coding and analyzing interview content,this study extracted the access status,habits,experience motivation of smartwatches and smartbands usage,and users’ perception of the device’s intervention.The research mainly has four findings.First,smartwatches and smartbands digitalize body experience through media embodiment,and shape people’s body practice in a restrictive and indicative way;Second,the driving force for the use of smartwatches and smartbands is the pursuit of health and beauty among people in risk and consumer societies,behind which are self-expectations,social anxiety,and the temptation of changes in media life;Third,the problem of time perception such as fragmented media usage habits is not obvious in the use of smartwatches and smartbands,which is due to media embodiment,systematic storage and single narrative of data,and users’data review habits.The media also shapes the spatial scene in various ways.Fourth,smartwatches and smartbands shape bodily practice,time perception,spatial scenes,and relationships through media embodiment and invisibility.At a time when materiality turn and bodily turn coexist in communication research,focusing on media essence is not equal to the neglect of media content;instead,the meaning of media content is expanded by media logic,which is no longer textual information and data,but the embodiment of inner time and space of media.Taking the usage smartwatches and smartbands as an example,this study explores three levels of media’s inner meaning space,namely content,value,and space-time.Findings are presented in sections one to three of the research findings in Chapter 4,specifically the data experience of bodily practices,the meaning and value embedded in the motives of the mediator’s use and its shaping of space-time and relationships.Therefore,taking specific media as the object of investigation,this study analyzes media practice from the shallower to the deeper,providing an empirical sample for the theoretical practice of media materiality,and also providing a facet for understanding media.