Media,Behavior And Emotion:A Grounded Study Of Digital Disconnection Among Youth Groups

Since the last century,digital technology has entered a period of rapid development,and people’s demand for digital media has become increasingly strong.While media brings convenience,it also brings many problems,such as social media addiction,emotional exhaustion caused by information overload,and fragmented reading that damages concentration.As the internet is always present,people have shifted their focus from content to connection,and gradually realized the negative effects of overconnectivity,leading to an increasing demand for "digital disconnection".The concepts of connectivity and disconnection may seem contradictory,but they are actually two sides of the same coin and are interlinked.In the face of the efficiency and connectivity-first values of contemporary accelerated society,disconnection has become a luxury.This "escape" phenomenon from digital living reveals people’s desire to seek balance between their lives and technology while pursuing the convenience of media."Digital disconnection" refers to the conscious choice of individuals to intermittently or long-term disconnect from the Internet or media devices to resist the negative effects of excessive media technology in their lives.This is a new management approach to cope with digital living.The younger generation is more proactive in their digital disconnection behaviors,hence this study focuses on young people who actively choose to disconnect and aims to explore the reasons and behavioral logic behind their choice to exit the digital media.The study conducted in-depth interviews with 30 young users from digital disconnection groups on Douban.By using the grounded theory approach,the data analysis and interpretation enabled the construction of a complete behavior chain of digital disconnection among young people.The main body of this study is divided into three parts.The first part mainly explores the motivation for young people to disconnect from digital media.The research shows that the use of digital media is influenced by three major pressures-excessive network socialization,information overload,and self-control issues,leading individuals to experience negative emotions such as anxiety,anger and boredom.The second part analyzes the behavior founding that young people mainly adopt three different degrees of disconnection behavior: mild(information avoidance and trace hiding),moderate(media use management and cognitive adjustment),and deep(device shielding,and behavior transfer).The last part explains the impact and emotional feedback mechanism of digital disconnection behaviors.Successful digital disconnection can strengthen an individual’s control over media and enhance their sense of self-identity,promoting behavior sustainability.However,obstacles and negative emotions can hinder the continuation of digital disconnection behavior.In summary,this study has deeply explored the motives and behavioral logic of youth choosing digital disconnection and its impact mechanism,revealing the digital disconnection behavior and its effects.The study found that digital disconnection is a practice for digital health,which provides support for promoting the healthy development of digital media and offers some reference and inspiration for practitioners to better understand digital practices in related fields.