1Xiuran Wang

Division III:Mediatization in China:Digital Augmentation of

Individuals

Xiuran Wang 2014S

Professor James MillerProfessor Kay Johnson

Hampshire College

2Xiuran Wang

Table of Contents

Section Page

Intro------------------------------------------------------------

-------------------------------------- 3

Chapter One: Understanding Mediatization---------------------------------------------- 6

Chapter Two: Mediatization in China----------------------------------------------------- 15

Scale and Intensity------------------------------------------------------------

--------- 16

The Diffusion of Smartphones------------------------------------------------------- 21

Daily Use of Smartphones------------------------------------------------------------

25

Potential------------------------------------------------------------

--------------------- 33

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Conclusion------------------------------------------------------------

------------------- 37

Chapter Three: Mediatization, Digital Augmentation andIndividualism ------ 38

Digital Augmentation-------------------------------------------------------

---------- 41

Individualism in the Era of Digital Media----------------------------------------- 46

The Implications of Digital Individualism---------------------------------------- 50

1)The Production of Public Discourse----------------------------------------- 50

2)The Public Surveillance in the Era of Digital Media---------------------- 53

3)The Potential Destabilization of Personal Beliefs------------------------ 54

Conclusion of the Project------------------------------------------------------------

--------- 56

Reference------------------------------------------------------------

----------------------------- 59

Intro

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Smartphones are experiencing a boom in China. According

to Forbes News,1 in 2012, China has become the largest market

for smartphones in the world, accounting for more than 26.5%

of total shipment, followed by the U.S.’s 17.8% and India’s

2.5%. CNNIC (China Internet Network Information Center)

reports that as of February, 2013, there were 330 million

smartphone users in China, among which 227 million were

Android users, and 48 million were iPhone users. Wechat, the

most popular smartphone-based instant messaging application

in China, reached the mark of more than 600 million

registered users in 2013, according to its owner, Tencent’s

quarterly report, Q3, 2013.2

If we compare people’s daily lives in which digital

media have boomed today to a decade ago, the most noticeable

difference might be that smartphones, along with other

digital media,3 from almost nonexistent, have become

1 http://www.forbes.com/sites/ericsavitz/2012/08/30/china-now-the-worlds-largest-smartphone-market/2 http://www.tencent.com/en-us/content/at/2013/attachments/20131113.pdf3 “digital media” is this paper refer to the technical media that are developed around the Internet, such as social media, smartphone-based applications etc.

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ubiquitous.4 Miller (2014) argues that in the U.S.,

smartphones have become an inseparable part of daily life

for many college students. In Beijing, it has been reported

that white-collar workers on average spend 6.72 hours on

their smartphones every day (Beijing Evening News, 2014).

Historically speaking, a decade might be a short period

of time, but in the era of digital media, even five years

can mark a distinction. As wearable devices like Google

Glass and smartwatches are just emerging,5 it is likely that

we will soon face a future where digital devices become even

more attached to people’s daily life, and their bodies6.

Given that the situation is rapidly changing, a theoretical

4The first generation of smartphones may be traced back to the end of20th century, but in this paper it was iPhone in 2007 that started theera of smartphones. One needs a touchscreen and lots of apps in order tolive in the cyberspace. As for “ubiquitous,” it refers to the diffusionof smartphones in highly mediatized societies. Admittedly, there arecountries where the penetration rate for smartphones might still bequite low, but that is not the focus of this paper.

5 Newly emerging digital devices equipped with operating systems6 Google Glasses and smartwatches are other “smart” digital devices thatare being developed. They obviously bear even higher potential of being attached to users all the time. To a large extent, the similarity among “smart” devices is higher than the similarity among a smart device and anon-smart device of the same sort. i.e. A smartphone is more alike to a smartwatch than a feature phone, so is Google Glass and a pair of conventional glasses, revealing that being “smart” is what defines modern devices and makes them close to their users.

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framework is needed in order to examine the ongoing process

and better understand its influence to people and society.

By examining the diffusion of smartphones and current

media use in China, this paper argues that China is going

through a process called mediatization, which features the

prevalence and high utilization of smartphones and digital

media within society, and personal attachment to digital

media in daily life, resulting in what is essentially

digital augmentation.

As a process of complexity, mediatization can bring

major influences to societies and cultures, making fully

understanding the process and its impacts beyond what this

study can cover. The scope of this paper is therefore

limited to the consequences of mediatization to Chinese

individuals concerning the digital augmentation, which is a

direct result of frequent use of smartphones and digital

media.

There are three chapters in this paper. The first one

introduces the basic functions of media in order to

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illustrate how media serve as the extension to their users,

which is important to understand the mechanism of the

mediated production of discourse. Nowadays, the diffusion of

smartphones and digital media has enabled individuals to

become digitally augmented humans. Building upon these

foundations, the chapter then explains what mediatization

refers to as a social transformation and why it is a

promising concept describing the ongoing process concerning

digital media.

The second chapter dedicates to the data regarding the

use of digital media among Chinese individuals in order to

show that the Chinese society has come to a phase where

digital media have become omnipresent at every corner of the

society as well as inseparable part for many people’ daily

life. The chapter then proceeds to argue that mediatization

as a social transformation is heavily ongoing in China.

The third chapter concentrates on how using smartphones

and digital media benefit Chinese individuals and ultimately

make them digitally augmented. This chapter also argues that

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the digital augmentation bears the potential to enhance

individuals’ role in the production of discourse and the

development of digital individualism. Given the exploratory

nature, this paper asserts that such potential consequences

deserve further attention.

Chapter One: Understanding Mediatization

One thing that this chapter attempts to achieve, by

looking at the basic functions of media, is to explain how

media serve as extension and augmentation for human beings.

Knowing these functions is also help understand how mass

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media dominated the production of discourse and why later,

via digital augmentation of individuals, digital media

weaken the influence of mass media and possibly decentralize

the production of discourse and make the production and

consumption of information more individualized. This chapter

explains how mediatization as a social transformation is

defined in this era of digital media in order to provide a

theoretical framework for the later analysis of the use of

digital media in China and its implications on individuals.

As Marshall McLuhan (1964) points out, media are the

“extension of man.” Krotz and Hepp (2011) regard media as

“modifiers of human communicative actions and practices.”

From the invention of writing and printing press in the

early days to the diffusion of smartphones we use daily

today, what is common is that through using such technical

means one manages to express and deliver his or her thoughts

to others despite temporal and spatial gaps, which is

impossible relying on only what a human being possesses

naturally. Without utilizing external means, what one can do

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in order to express thoughts can not surpass oral

communication and body languages.7

It is important to indicate what media refers to when

speaking of mediatization in this paper. As Hepp (2013)

clarifies, “media” in the study of mediatization do not

refer to “primary media” such as language or acting theatre,

nor do they refer to generalized media such as money or

power; instead, they stand for “various technical

communication media used to extend our communication

possibilities beyond here and now.”

According to Schulz (2004), media in general have three

basic functions. The first function is relay function, which

delivers information despite spatial and temporal distances.

This can be easily understood though our daily use of phones

and emails. One does not have to be standing in front of the

other in order to communicate; nor is it required for one to

be checking emails all the time in order not to miss any

7 e.g. carving on stones is a practice of utilizing external materials.

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incoming messages, as all the mail will be stored for one to

check later.

The second function is semiotic function, which refers

to the function of encoding, formatting and decoding

information. Visual, audio and audiovisual are the most

commonly referred attributes in characterizing different

media (Eveland, 2003 ； Schulz, 2004). Communication is

possible only when encoders and decoders follow a common

rule that makes both integrating certain meaning into a

particular message and decoding the meaning out of it

possible for human perception and information processing.

There is the assumption which refers to “medium theories”

that all codes carry “inbuilt” interpretation rules, which

generate a “bias” to the decoding process and ultimately,

transform recipients’ modes of consciousness (Innis, 1951;

McLuhan, 1967; Schulz, 2004). This assumption may shed light

on the understanding of the individuals’ dependency on

external institutions in regards to individualism in the era

of digital media, which will be covered in later discussion.

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The third function of media is economic function, which

highlights the standardization of media products, which

decreases unit cost in producing output. This function also

refers to how communication stimulates response, feedback,

and therefore, further communications. Schulz (2004) argues

that, due to the low distribution cost, mass media becomes

omnipresent and an essential part of the societal definition

of reality.

Today, there are four kinds of communications (Krotz

and Hepp, 2011). The first kind appeared the earliest and is

the most basic, which is conversation in a common situation.

With the absence of the technical media, this kind of

communication involves only language and gestures. The other

three types of communications are all mediated

communications. They are interactive communication, mass

media communication, and mediated interpersonal

communication.

Interactive communication refers to mediated

communication with particular technical devices through

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certain given formats, such as interacting with GPS or

computers. However, talking to another individual or groups

of people via phones or other electronic devices does not

count as interactive communication, even though technical

devices are involved in such communicative practices.

Instead, those are mediated interpersonal communication. One

does not interact with another human being in interactive

communication.

Mass media communication relies on a given content in a

certain format to communicate and is a one-way channel, such

as reading newspapers and watching televisions. While the

contents delivered through mass media stimulate all kinds of

responses, such responses cannot be directly reflected back

through mass media, since individuals cannot freely post on

newspapers, or give speeches on televisions. This is what

Schulz (2004) calls “gatekeeping” function of mass media,

which emphasizes the selectivity in presenting and promoting

information and opinions. Schulz attributes such

characteristic only to the limitation in the capacity that

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mass media possess. He states that the reason that new

digital media makes communication more decentralized and

individualized is that digital media have higher storage

capacity so that more individualized information can now be

produced, shared and accessed. While it is true that in the

era of digital media, the total volume of information

available has significantly increased, that is not the

reason that communication has become more diverse and

individualized.

Schulz (2004) asserts that the low cost of distribution

of information significantly contributes to mass media’s

control over discourse, since information become more easily

accessible. Yet, individuals in the era of mass media could

not freely express their opinions on mass media since the

media were under the control of power holders. Therefore, it

is the lack of channel of expressing, instead of the

limitation in storage capacity, which blocked the free flow

of information in the era of mass media. Schulz’s (2004)

claim that the fact that digital media grant more

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decentralized and individualized communication is due to the

increase of the total volume of information in transmission

is therefore, missing the point. Should the cyberworld be

scaled down to half of its current volume regarding total

information, individuals would still have far more freedom

in voicing opinions, compared to the era of mass media,

since the determining factor is not the storage capacity,

but the accessibility to channel of communication. The

Internet is significant in this regard because it connects

individuals worldwide and provide a platform where one could

easily share information with each other. In this process,

new channels of communication that involve more individuals

and were absent in the era of mass media, have been

established. Admittedly online censorship still exists,

especially in China , the “gatekeeping” and filtering

functions of mass media have been undermined due to the

appearance of online communities (Zheng, 2007);

communications become more diverse and central control over

discourse becomes increasingly difficult.

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With the rapid development of online services, the

emergence of smartphones has contributed to the momentum,

for they bridge users with other digital media, and bond

them with the cyberworld for increasingly long time. It is

not an exaggeration to say that today many of us are living

two lives—one is in the physical world we have been living

in for the last several thousands of years; the other is in

the augmented reality that exists in the digital world,

thanks to the omnipresence granted by digital media. One

equipped with devices made of modern technology can reach

others or be reached in spite of time or space. Admittedly

one could choose to turn off his/her cell phones or stopping

checking emails to temporarily escape from this digitized

modern lifestyle, but such situation has become more and

more of an unusual situation, since when the whole society

is always online, in order to stay as a part of it, comply

with peer pressure, or simply fulfill requirements from

school or workplace, one can hardly disconnect him/herself

from such established social networks for long8. People are8 Social networks here refer to a broader sense of networks, such as relationships with family, friends, colleges etc., not just media such

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becoming more and more expected to stay reachable. While in

the old days, family members at distance may only be able

to communicate through mail, which could take months,

nowadays, one can get worried if his/her significant other

does not reply to missed phone calls for merely several

hours, if not less.

One can extend his/her presence on different media,

since netizens9 today most likely have different accounts

for different websites/services. People can present

themselves in ways they prefer, even though the presented

figure could be inaccurate, or misleading. In such sense,

individuals are empowered since our ability to reach out has

been extended. However, as the paper will argue later, while

one becomes more capable in the era of digital media, in

certain ways one also becomes more dependent on them, not

just in a sense that one bears external expectations, but

also in regards to one’s internal needs (Hjarvard, 2013).

as Facebook, Twitter etc.9 The word “netizen,” as used in this paper, is the direct translation of Chinese word “网网,” which is used by authorities and mainstream media to refer to Internet users in general. In the second chapter regarding the data of media use, the word will appear in higher frequency.

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The emergence of digital media can merely be traced

back to more than a decade ago. Smartphones, which bring

further implications to our bonding to digital media, are

even more of a newcomer, given that the first generation of

iPhone was released in 2007. While digital media is fairly

new, their predecessors have been studied for quite some

time. Among the established theories, mediatization theory

is the most promising.

It is crucial to differentiate mediatization from

mediation. As Hepp (2013) argues, while mediation refers to

characteristics of any process of media communication and a

concept to theorize the process of communication in total,

mediatization focuses more on media related changes on the

social and cultural front. It has also been mentioned by

some scholars that the process of mediatization is similar

to modernization and globalization (Krotz and Hepp, 2011;

Hjarvard, 2013) for they all being gradual processes,

bearing the potential to bring social changes, and possibly

applicable universally.

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There is not yet a commonly accepted definition for

mediatization regarding digital media nowadays. There are

competing visions concerning the concept, though. In fact,

the concept of mediatization can be traced back to pre-

digital media era.

As Hepp (2013) points out, there are mainly two

traditions in study of mediatization. One is

“institutionalist traditions” which mainly focus on mass

media and their “media logic” which refers to their power of

regulating and constructing social norms. This can be

understood through the “gatekeeping” function of mass media.

Given the assumption of medium theory that any encoded

information has its inbuilt “bias,” control over discourse

in the era of mass media is not only possible, but also

common. Therefore, when the conception of mediatization was

first used, it was referring to mediatization of politics

(Schultz, 2004; Hjarvard, 2013). However, along with the

development of digital media, the “gatekeeping” function has

shaded.

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The other kind of traditions is social constructivist

traditions, which focus on the impact to everyday

communication practices from digital media and personal

communication. Concentrating on mass media, Schulz (2004)

understands mediatization as four processes: extension (of

ways of communication for human beings), substitution (of

certain daily activities), amalgamation (of physical and

mediated activities), and accommodation (of media related

industries and workforce). Although Schulz attributes these

components to only mass media, all of them can actually be

carried over to help us understand digital media, since

digital media not only inherits but also enhanced such

attributes, not just because we experience more exposure to

digital media daily, but also in regards to the fact that

digital media decentralizes control over discourse. Krotz

(2007, 2009, 2011) regards mediatization as a long-term

historical meta-process that has been around since the

emergence of media. He also argues that mediatization is not

just about more and more media use in daily lives, but more

about changing everyday lives, identity constructions and

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social relations (2011). Hjarvard (2013) has taken the

concept further and regards mediatization as a more recent

process, since he emphasizes an increasing degree of

dependency on media and how media has become an inseparable

part of one’s daily lives, and changes of culture and

society. Miller (2014) regards mediatization as a “complex

of processes that makes increasing amounts of social action,

knowledge and experience available thorough and in terms of

the media.” Given the two traditions in mediatization

research, Hepp (2013) argues that there might be a way to

combine two perspectives in order to carry out empirical

study on mediatization by coming up with the conception of

“molding force,” which refers to the effect of both mass

media and digital media on individual level of

communication. Hepp utilizes the conception of

“communicative figurations” from Elias (1978: 15), which

refers to “networks of individuals.” The rationale behind

this approach is that since interpersonal communication is

the most basic unit of communication, then even the

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influence of mass media can be understood through complex

networks of individuals.

What is common among these frameworks is the

concentration on the increasing level of participation of

media in our daily lives. The concept of mediatization, as

this paper uses it, refers to the phenomenon that digital

media become embodied to society and daily life and that

individuals become more and more attached to smartphones and

digital media, both mentally and physically in order to

fulfill personal needs and organize daily activities.

Given that China has become the largest market for

smartphones, whether digital media have become inseparable

part of daily life and ultimately, mediatization is an

ongoing process are questions worth asking. Therefore, the

next chapter will examine the data on the digital media use

in China today and assess to what extent that the country is

undergoing the transformation of mediatization.

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Chapter Two: Mediatization in China

It is not possible to live fully in a cyberworld

without the entire established digital infrastructure on the

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Internet. Smartphones bridge their users and the cyberworld

and could not perform the way they do should there be none

of the established digital applications and services on the

Internet. Therefore, in order to understand to what extent

mediatization is an ongoing process in China, the

development and diffusion of the Internet need to be

examined first.

The focus of this chapter is, through looking at the

use of the Internet and digital media today, to examine to

what extent such media use has become quotidian part of

people’s daily life and whether smartphones have become all-

time companion for their users. In this chapter, the use of

digital media will be examined through two aspects: scale

and intensity, and potential.

Scale focuses on how many people are currently using

digital media in China and who they are, how prevalent

smartphones are etc. Intensity refers to among digital media

users in China, how intensely they are attached to the

media, namely what kind of activities they are engaging via

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the media, and how much time they spend in cyberspace.

Potential examines whether there is space for digital media

to be utilized even further and by more population.

Scale and Intensity

In China today, the Internet has become the most

important platform of information, for it significantly

affects the daily lives of hundreds of millions of people.

Being both recipients and producers of information, digital

media users heavily rely on digital media to carry out many

daily routines and practices.

According to CNNIC10, up to December, 2013, there are 618

million netizens11 in mainland China, making up 45.8% of 10 China Internet Network Information Center, which is a national institute; data calculated based on surveys11 “Netizens” is the literal translation of the word “网网,”which is used in the CNNIC’s report to refer to the Chinese residents aged 6 or older who had accessed the Internet within the recent 6 months as of the time of the survey

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total population in China. For the last decade, the total

number of netizens and penetration rate12 have increased

steadily, which is shown in the figure below:

12 Penetration rate in this report refers to the percentage of total population who have access to the Internet etc.

Source: CNNIC (China Internet Network Information Center, which is a national institute; data calculated based on surveys)

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By the end of 2013, even though only slightly less than

half of total population in China are Internet users, the

total number of netizens in China has reached 600 million.

It is worth mentioning that while these data from CNNIC

clearly indicate the dramatic growths in the last a few

years, given the numbers from other sources and the survey-

based methodology of CNNIC, it is possible that these

numbers are reflecting a rather conservative opinion

The Internet Penetration Rate

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concerning the total number of netizens and Internet

penetration in China.

According to MIIT (Ministry of Industry and Information

Technology of the People's Republic of China), as of June,

2013, there were totally 813 million mobile netizens

(including mobile phones and tablets etc.) in China, among

which 783 million were mobile phone netizens, accounting for

96.3%. According to this source, the majority of Chinese

citizens are now mobile netizens. The difference can be

caused by the fact that the numbers provided by CNNIC are

estimations based on the surveys, while MIIT has first hand

data from service providers. Therefore, it is highly

possible that the data from MIIT better reflect the

accessibility of the Internet. Regardless, CNNIC’s data are

still very valuable in understanding the current media use

in the country.

Chinese netizens also access the Internet through a

variety of devices. While many people still routinely access

the Internet through desktops and laptops daily, more and

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more are doing so through their mobile phones, especially

smartphones. By the end of 2013, among all netizens in

China, 69.7% access the Internet through desktop computers

(compared to 70.6% in 2012), and 44.1% through laptops

(compared to 45.9% in 2012). While the total amount of

netizens are steadily increasing, such minor decreases in

percentages are directly resulted from more accessing

through mobile phones, according to CNNIC. Data indicates

that mobile netizens had become the majority among all

netizens in China in 2009, as shown below.

2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 20130%

10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%90%

24%

40%

61% 66% 69% 75%81%

Percentage of Mobile Netizens among All Netizens

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In 2007, while there were merely 50 million mobile

netizens, the number has become almost 10 times greater in

only 6 years. The penetration rate experienced a spiky

increase from 2008 to 2009, skyrocketing from 39.5% to

60.8%.

CNNIC’s data also states that among those who were non-

netizens prior to 2013, mobile phones are the most common

accessing device.

The data suggests that mobile phones are slowly taking

over traditional accessing devices, namely desktops and

laptops as accessing device for the Internet.13 It also

suggests a strong potential that mobile phones, especially

smartphones bear in helping the Internet and other digital

media penetrate more marginalized population, such as older

13 Data regarding tablets are not available. Yet, it is plausible to state that tablets stand at the middle ground between desktops/laptops and smartphones.

Accessing device distribution among new netizens in 2013

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population, and migrant workers, as CNNIC’s report points

out.

The mobility and attachability that smartphones provide

to their users are far more superior to what desktops and

laptops could offer, which makes smartphones more likely to

be embodied in daily routines. Therefore, examining the

diffusion of smartphones in China bears particular

importance in understanding mediatization in the country.

The Diffusion of Smartphones

In 2012, Forbes reported in news that China had

overtaken the US to become the largest smartphone market in

the world, followed by the U.S. and India.

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*CAGR: Compound Annual Growth Rate

According to CNNIC’s report, till the end of February,

2013, there were 330 million smartphone users in China. At

the same time, the total amount of smartphone netizens

increased dramatically from 190 million in 2011 to 330

million in 201314, as can be seen below:

2011.12 2013.20.00%

10.00%20.00%30.00%40.00%50.00%60.00%70.00%80.00%90.00%

53%

79%

Percentage of Smartphone Netizens among All Mobile

Netizens

From the data it is very clear that smartphones are

enjoying a boom in China, for that smartphones are replacing14 Again, as it will be shown later in the chapter, CNNIC’s data well reflect the speed of growth, but other sources say that the total numberof mobile netizens, especially smartphone netizens, is much higher.

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feature phones rapidly and now almost 80% of total netizens

access the Internet through smartphones. It is also worth

mentioning that every smartphone user is a mobile netizen,

as the data has shown. While this should not come as a

surprise, since being able to access all the digital media

and applications is how smartphones essentially function,

the data implies that those who were previously non-netizens

have become netizens, and particularly mobile netizens

because of using smartphones.

The diffusion of smartphones is a worldwide phenomenon,

data from Business Insider15 may help understand the process

from a comparative perspective. According to their analysis,

in 2012, the U.S. smartphone penetration had surpassed 50%;

while young population seems to be the main users,

smartphones also have a decent penetration among older

generations, especially among ones with higher incomes.

15 http://www.businessinsider.com/us-smartphone-market-2012-9

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Globally speaking, in 2012, European countries occupied

most positions on the list of countries with highest

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smartphone penetration, though Singapore takes the crown,

followed by Hong Kong.

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According to the data, China had a penetration rate of

33% in 2012, this number had surpassed 50% as of June, 2013,

according to MIIT.

Daily Use of Smartphones

The most common operating systems among smartphones in

China are Android and iOS. As of February, 2013, among all

the smartphone users in China, 227 million were Android

users, and 48 million were iPhone users. According to

Umeng16, almost one third of Chinese smartphones users have

devices priced more than 500 USD.

16 http://techcrunch.com/2014/03/13/china-now-has-700m-active-smartphone-users-says-umeng/

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68.80%14.60%

13.60%3.00%

Market Share of Smartphones in China based on OS (February, 2013)Androi

d

iOS

Symbian

Others

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According to AppBrain, as of February 13th, 2014, there

were in total more than 1.1 million applications for Android

on the market. As for iOS, as of October, 2013, the number

also reached 1 million, according to Apple. While it is

difficult to examine how millions of smartphone applications

are distributed in different categories in a more detailed

manner, one can get a glimpse of the abundance of the

resource available through using smartphones. One can easily

find many different options for different needs.

Given the huge population of smartphone users in China,

examining what applications they use is crucial to

understand the involvement of digital media in their daily

lives.

Although the available data regarding application use

are not exclusively targeting smartphone users, but all

mobile netizens in China, given that almost 80% of mobile

netizens access the Internet through smartphones, the data

below is still quite useful in providing a paradigm of what

kind of applications are most commonly used.

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As CNNIC points out, the 6 most common categories of

applications among Chinese mobile netizens are: instant

communication, news and information, search engines, online

music, blogs and online videos; they all had more than 400

million users in 2013, indicating that around 70% of mobile

netizens use all these kinds of online applications.

Another source says that among social media users,

games and entertainment are the most popular contents17.

Since instant communication applications are currently

the mostly used type of applications among mobile netizens

in China, a closer look at the dominant player in this17 QQ Zone and Renren are similar to Facebook; Sina Weibo and Tencent Weibo are like Twitter.

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category, Weixin, can offer a better understanding of its

influence.

Weixin (also known as WeChat in foreign markets), is

currently the most popular smartphone-based instant

messaging applications in China. The main functions it

offers to users are real-time communication between two or

more contacts through textual and audio-visual information.

It quickly became popular because it is more versatile and

economic compared to the traditional SMS. As a product of

Tencent, a conglomerate in China, Weixin also gives users

access to easily connect with their friends in QQ, which is

another Tencent-owned, both computer- and smartphone-based

instant communication application with hundreds of millions

users that boomed in the first decade of 21st century18.

Weixin also provides a so called “Circle” platform where

users and their contacts share their posts, which usually

consist of textual information, photos, and other shared

information. Furthermore, Weixin has more functions that

18 QQ has a monthly active user base of more than 800 million, accordingto Tencent’s 2013 Q3 Report.

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serve to help users get in touch with people they do not

necessarily know. One can shake the phone and see if there

is another user who is doing so at the same time. It also

has a location-based service where one can sign in with

their current location and check which other users are in

proximity. Users can also write or record a message and send

it into a so called “drift bottle” to be picked up by

another random user. Weixin has been adding more functions

to attract more users as well as further expand its market.

As of right now, Weixin is marching into the battlefield of

online gaming and online payment.

Since the initial release on January 21st, 2011, Weixin

has become the most popular smartphone-based real-time

communication application in China. According to an article

published on a website (Huang, 2013),19 as of July, 2013,

the total amount of Weixin users has reached 500 million20,

while the number was still 300 million in January, 2013. As

for QQ, another product of Tencent, it reached the mark of

19 www.ifanr.com20 including around 70 million of international users.

42Xiuran Wang

100 million users using QQ at the same time on March 5th,

2010; on April 11th, 2014, the number was 200 million21.

Real-time graph of total number and distribution of online QQ users in China. 22

So far it is clear that digital media in China has

reached a very high level of penetration. In terms of the

intensity of media use, data also shows that Chinese

netizens are spending more and more time on the Internet in

the recent years. Not only that the total time netizens

21 http://news.mydrivers.com/1/300/300381.htm22 The real-time data and graph can be accessed at http://im.qq.com/online/

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spend on the Internet have been steadily increasing, the

process is also accelerating.

2010 2011 2012 20130

10

20

30

18.3 18.7 20.525

Average Hours Spent on the Internet per Week among Chinese

Netizens

It has also been observed that Chinese netizens today

often choose to spend time with their phones for

entertainment during their scattered leisure time, according

to CNNIC’s report. The use of the digital media has

penetrated many of their daily activities. People play

games, watch videos and read literatures through their

phones between work assignments, when they wait for

transportations and when they eat and rest.

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When do netizens access the Internet via phones

Playing Games WatchingVideos

Reading

Down timebetween

assignments

52.7% 33.1% 45.4%

When eating orwatching TV

38.6% 25.5% 34.4%

When waitingfor

others/transportation

56.5% 50.3% 61.2%

Before going tosleep

68.5% 66.2% 69.6%

When resting athome

69.2% 60.1% 60%

Others 5.6% 2.6% 3.8%

Source: CNNIC

Gender distribution among Chinese netizens has also

been studied. According to CNNIC’s report, 56% of Chinese

netizens are male, and 44% are female. The difference

corresponds to the slight unbalance in general gender

distribution in China but indicates a slightly higher ratio

of male netizens.23 While no study has been done to the

cause of the gap among netizens, one possible perspective is

23 According to the 2010 census, males account for 51.27% of China's 1.34 billion people, while females make up 48.73%.

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looking at migrant workers in cities. According to the data

from National Bureau of Statistics of China, as of 2011,

there were around 250 million migrant workers in cities,

among which 65.9% were male. Given that there is still a gap

in the penetration rate of the Internet between urban and

rural areas, those rural women who do not work in cities may

have less opportunity to gain exposure to the Internet,

while male migrant workers can access mobile phones and the

Internet relatively more easily.

As for age distribution among netizens, netizens aged

between 10 to 50 are the majority of the netizen population,

accounting for around 90% of all.

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below 10 10-19 20-29 30-39 40-49 50-59 60+0.00%

5.00%

10.00%

15.00%

20.00%

25.00%

30.00%

35.00%

2%

24%

30%

25%

12%

4%2%1.90%

24.10%

31.20%

23.90%

12.10%

5.10%

1.90%

Age Distribution among Chinese Netizens

2012 2013

At this point, it’s hard to deny that in today’s China,

digital media have become inseparable part of many people,

even the majority’s daily lives.

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Potential

While digital media has become prominent in China,

there is still room for further growth. While the general

penetration of the Internet is high, the number among rural

areas is relatively low, as CNNIC points out.

According to their report, there are currently around

657 million rural residents in China, among which 177

million are rural netizens, indicating a 13.5% increase

compared to 2012, accounting for 28.6% of total netizens,.

As comparison, urban netizen population grew 8% since 2012,

meaning the gap between the penetration rates of Internet of

rural and urban population is slowly getting narrower.

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Urban Rural0.00%

10.00%

20.00%

30.00%

40.00%

50.00%

60.00%

70.00%

80.00% 72.40%

27.60%

71.40%

28.60%

Rural/Urban Netizen Distribution

2012 2013

2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 20130.00%10.00%20.00%30.00%40.00%50.00%60.00%70.00%

35.90%45.70% 53.50%

56.70% 59.10% 62.00%

11.60% 14.80% 17.50% 20.20% 23.70%27.50%

55.10% 54.30%53.40%

50.30% 48.70%47.40%

Urbanization & Urban/Rural Internet Penatration

Urban PenatrationRural PenatrationNational Percentage of Rural Population

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As the figure shows, urbanization continues to lower

the ratio of rural population in the country, and the

penetration rate of the Internet continues to grow in rural

areas. Given that previous data suggests that smartphones

play an important role in transforming non-netizens into

netizens, it is reasonable to state that the total amount of

netizens, especially mobile netizens will very likely to

increase, and the gap between rural and urban areas will

continue to shrink.

However, it is worth to note that, according to CNNIC’s

survey, the lack of accessing devices or Internet connection

seems to be quite minor reasons that non-netizens do not use

the Internet. The most common reason is lacking the

knowledge of computers/the Internet. Such population likely

include certain marginalized and older population.

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Lack the Knowledge

Too Old/Young

No Accessing Device

No Internet Access

Have No Time

Not needed/N...

0.00%

10.00%

20.00%

30.00%

40.00%

50.00%

60.00%

70.00%

57.50%

18.60%

11.70%

2.80%

18.00%

10.80%

58.10%

20.60%

10.00%

1.80%

17.40%10.50%

20122013

Reasons for Not Using the Internet

The result of surveys also shows that among non-

netizens, the uncertainty of whether they might start to use

the Internet in the future is slowly increasing, while the

amount of those who are certain they will continue not to

use the Internet is decreasing.

However, from a practical perspective, since lacking

the knowledge to use computers/the Internet seems to be the

most important reason marginalized population do not use the

Internet, unless there are opportunities for them to learn

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and they are willing to step out of comfort zone, it is not

likely they will become netizens in a near future.

2011.6 2011.12 2012.6 2012.12 2013.6 2013.120.00%10.00%20.00%30.00%40.00%50.00%60.00%70.00%80.00%90.00%

17.50%

16.30% 17.00% 13.40%12.50%

11.90%

17.50%

14.30% 10.20% 9.30% 9.40%

13.70%

65.00% 69.50% 72.90% 77.30% 78.10% 74.50%

Using the Internet in the Future for Non-netizens

Definitely/Probably Hard to sayDefinitely not/Probably not

Source: CNNIC

Moreover, according to MIIT’s data, the majority of Chinese

population today are already mobile netizens. Therefore,

while there is still room for reaching a higher penetration

rate of the Internet among non-netizens, it is limited.

Recent reports also revealed that the total shipment of

smartphones in China in the first quarter of 2014 declined

and it means the penetration of smartphones has entered a

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more mature stage where the mass replacements of features

phones have past24.

Conclusion

This chapter examines the current Internet and media

use in China. The data shows that digital media have become

deeply attached to society. Not only have digital media a

high penetration rate and cover large population, they also

become more and more attached to netizens’ daily lives

regarding the intensity of use and their all-time and almost

omnipresent presence. Such transformation can bring further

change the paradigm of Chinese netizens’ social and cultural

activities. Based on such facts, this chapter argues that

mediatization is an ongoing process in China.

24 http://www.zoopda.com/2180

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Given how swift smartphones have diffused in China, it

is likely that digital devices such as smartphones and

future devices will be further embodied into Chinese

netizens’ daily lives. Smartphones in China are serving

their users in a more physically and mentally attached

fashion. They now function less as external assets, but more

as attached components, and augmented limbs. The next

chapter will further discuss what does it mean to be digital

augmented humans, and what kind of implications it has on

individuals regarding individualism, which was observed

during the post-reform era in China.

Chapter Three: Mediatization, Digital Augmentation

and Individualism

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Through examining the data on digital media use in the

country, the previous chapter argued that mediatization is

an ongoing process in China. While a process of such

complexity and significance has many implications on

different social and cultural fronts, the scope of this

chapter is limited. Through looking at how smartphones serve

their users as more than tools, this chapter argues that

through intensive daily use, smartphones essentially become

attached to their users all the time, extending human

capabilities and taking over certain functions of brains.

Given the relationship between smartphones and their users,

those people have essentially become digitally augmented

humans.

A highly mediatized modern society requires its members

to fully utilize their augmented abilities to fulfill the

roles assigned to them, such as consuming and producing

information through social network. The use of digital media

has become a daily routine required by modern society, and

through which it seems a natural result that individuals

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today, living both physically and digitally, explore unique

characteristics of personal biography in daily activities.

Taking individualism as the practice of actively pursuing

personal needs and interests, the prospering of digital

media provides new ground for people to pursue

individualism, for the data in the previous chapter has

shown that the most popular contents circulated on social

media in China today are about entertainment and pleasure-

seeking.

The individualization of Chinese society was observed

during the post-reform era in the late 20th century, along

with the economic boom boosted by the top-down

decollectivization. The expansion of the availability of

goods facilitated the appearance of the social institutions

such as shopping malls and McDonald’s, which were used by

the individuals to fulfill the needs of consumerism and

pursuing new public social space (Yan, 2009).

Today, in the era of digital media, it is easier for

people to display their individuality. A considerable amount

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of daily activities now can be done through digital media is

one thing; the digital augmentation granted by using

smartphones also enhanced people’s role as producers and

consumers of information, meaning that the presentation of

one’s identity and thoughts can take a variety of forms and

traverse longer distances and reach more people. As a

result, Chinese individuals now have new channels and more

powerful means to enjoy personal freedom. Therefore,

mediatization in China accelerates the process of

individualization.

Individualism in China in the era of digital media also

has implications, and this paper would like to make several

arguments concerning such influence. The first argument is

that through the use of digital media, Chinese individuals

have become empowered producers and consumers of

information, strongly contrasting the paradigm of the

production of public discourse in the Mao’s era, an era of

mass media.

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The second argument is that, because of the public and

interactive nature of digital media especially social media,

individuals today, while been granted new means to explore

and display individuality, they have to behave with the

constant presence of other members of the society, which is

essentially a mechanism featuring continuous public

surveillance, making individuals cautiously restrain their

behaviors in the cyberworld (Trottier, 2012). 25

The third argument concerns the potential

destabilization of individual beliefs caused by the high-

level exposure to the diverse values in the external

environment. One relies on the external sources to acquire

social and moral recognition, generating pressure to conform

to the norms set by the society.

While this paper intends to shed some light on a better

understanding of the impact of mediatization on individuals,

25 While personal privacy and digital security are indeed challenged in the era of digital media, it is beyond the scope of this chapter to discuss such issues. Exposure to the external environment, as referencedin this chapter, means one has to rely on interacting with others and external communicative practices in order to make the digital augmentation function, which result in being exposed to diverse value and peer pressure etc.

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it is exploratory in nature. Mediatization and digital

augmentation can have many implications, and this paper only

focuses on a few aspects regarding individualism in China.

To examine related issues in a more thorough manner, further

efforts are needed and encouraged.

Digital Augmentation

To a large extent, tools are used to serve particular

purposes—one needs a pen in order to write things down, and

a mobile phone in order to reach out or be reached when

needed. In such settings, it’s the purpose of the tools that

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users care about—one needs results, and tools are merely

things that serve particular functions to help produce the

results. In other words, as long as a wanted result can be

generated, whether the result is produced relying on a

particular tool in most cases is not the most important

thing to the user.

Therefore, one of the most prominent features of tools

regarding their functionality is that they are alike within

the same category—all pens work similarly, and one is

replaceable by another—a user usually does not care if there

is anything special about a pen when he/she needs it to

write down a number—not on a daily basis, but in a situation

when writing down the number is crucial. A pen or a car can

bear more meanings when branding and design come into play,

since they can stand for a certain taste and social status,

but that is when a tool is used beyond its basic and

original functions and serving additional and derivative

purposes. On a daily basis one may have a preference on the

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brand and design of tools, and that is because those

derivative purposes become important throughout daily use.

It is true that different people may use the same tool

to serve different purposes, but tools have their built-in

limitations—a car cannot replace a pen to write. While a

tool can gain additional values that matter to the user,

regarding its functionality that is limited by its built-in

attributes, it is replaceable by another of the same

category or one that functions the same.

Smartphones are tools, because they are used to serve

particular purposes. However, they are more than that. It

has been stated that many American college students have

developed a considerable level of attachment to their

smartphones and claim that losing their smartphones would be

a “tragedy”(Luhrmann, 2010; Miller, 2014). Losing a tool can

be troublesome even when there is no additional value

attached to it, since finding a replacement can cost extra

resources and delay work. However, when losing something is

a “tragedy,” it is probably not just due to the

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inconvenience caused by losing the tool, but the attachment

users have developed to their smartphones. The fear of

losing smartphones also likely stems from losing all the

connections and materials that can only be accessed through

smartphones, especially one’s own. As Luhrmann (2014)

asserts, among the students he studied, the iPhone has

become an identity and people treat their iPhones as part of

themselves. Chalmers (2008) points out that one’s iPhone can

become part of himself because it takes over certain

functions of his brain: he uses the iPhone to memorize

things, make plans, and even daydream on it.

All iPhones of the same model are technically identical

yet they can become part of one’s mind and body, despite the

fact that users are different in personality and lifestyle.

Smartphones bear the mark of their users and each device

becomes unique and attached to their user through daily use.

Therefore, smartphones possess the feature of typical tools:

they are alike within the same category—the same model of

smartphones are always identical (to a certain extent all

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smartphones today are very similar). Furthermore, users can

be personally attached to their smartphones because

smartphones bear their users’ mark through daily use. The

fact that one uses a smartphone to take photos, set

reminders, and communicate with others through instant

messaging applications indicates that the uses of

smartphones extend the capability of a human being: to

memorize and store information through media, and to

communicate despite spatial and temporal distances. And such

use, which is utilizing the basic built-in functions of

smartphones,26 is highly personalized and customized, which

distinguishes between smartphones from common tools. One

feels unsettled when the smartphone one has had for long has

to be replaced by a new one. Every user has his or her

unique way of using smartphones, and they have particular

selections of applications that best serve their use of

their phones. Not to mention smartphones can be a storage

place for personal records and history, such as one’s photos

and records of conversations with friends. It can also be26 Namely accessing other digital media and running all kinds of applications

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what users rely on in order to present particular work

assignments and other tasks.

One could borrow another’s pen in order to write, since

all pens work similarly concerning the function of writing,

but borrowing a smartphone would be comparable to walking

into another person’s home: it is not yours and there is no

way you could use it as if it were your own.

Therefore, smartphones are more than tools. Upon being

produced from factories, devices of the same model are

identical, and “dead,” but once they have been adopted by

users, through daily use they become “alive”, unique, and

amalgamated with their users. By using smartphones, in a

metaphoric sense, users give life to their devices and mark

them with their own characteristics, and then absorb them

into their own body and mind, and then live with them.

A highly digitized modern society produces and

transmits an unprecedented amount of information to its

members, and it is practical for one to rely on digital

media to process and store information. Smartphones have

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therefore become an external, yet not-so-external “antenna”

and storage for one’s memory. As digitalization of society

progresses, being equipped with external devices that keep

one informed and reachable becomes more and more of a

requirement for individuals; one needs to be digitally

augmented in order to stay on top of daily matters and

maintain being “operational.” It is in such sense that the

digital media serve as extension of human, and that is

beyond the kind of “extension” that McLuhan claimed in the

20th century. The “extension” claimed by McLuhan does not

refer to the level of amalgamation we are observing today,

and is less personally attached, for conventional media do

not attach to users all the time as smartphones do, they

cannot take over as many functions of brains and

additionally, they are not as personalized and customized to

users.

Given how ubiquitous smartphones have become in China

and how attached people are to them, it is not an

exaggeration to say that when you walk on the street with

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many other pedestrians, you are actually also walking in a

huge digital network where everyone is potentially

connected. With the naked eye one may see the flow of the

swarm, consisting of only strangers; with smartphones they

can suddenly have names and become tangible—if one opens

WeChat and checks for people around, making each individual

powerful and potentially active player in social activities.

But that is what we have right now. Given how such

practices were not at all possible only a few years ago, it

is likely that when more attachable and integrated digital

devices, such as Google Glass and smartwatches come out in

the near future, the scenario described above will be only

more common and accessible. At that point, when one is

looking at another person, it is no longer a pure natural

human being seen; instead, it is a digitally augmented

individual, with easy access of information half a world

away, and possibly knowledge of all of the history and

stories from one’s social network.

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It is in such a manner that digital media empower

individuals. From a perspective of intermediated

communications, they empower their users in a direct manner

by extending the natural capability of human beings,

enabling one to better perform the role of producer and

consumer of information. Much like books enabling knowledge

to be transferred over generations, digital media certainly

carry over the basic function. But the unique quality of

digital media is the capacity to connect individuals and

establish multi-directional communicative channels in real-

time. Such capacity has become more and more of a

requirement of modern society. Using social media as sources

of information has become a daily routine for many people,

and through circulating the information the people also

extend the presentation of their own opinions and stances.

The use of digital media naturally encourages individuals to

become more active and self-determined agents.

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Individualism in the Era of Digital Media

Individualization is a process of high modernity

(Hjarvard, 2013). Giddens (1991) understands

individualization as “detraditionalization,” which refers to

the process where individuals detach themselves from the

responsibility of maintaining traditions, such as family

kinships, in order to pursue personal interests. Bauman

(2000) regards it as a result of “compulsive and obligatory

self-determinations” of individuals. Yan (2009) points out

that individualization still resides in particular social

institutions, indicating its dependency on the external

environment.

China experienced a transition from collectivization to

individualization during the post-reform era (Yan, 2009).

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Before the reform of 1978, in rural China during the

collective era, farm families were grouped into production

teams and communes. They were not allowed to keep their own

products, since all the goods were required to be handed

into communes, where the goods would be later redistributed

(Vogel, 1989). The incentives of rural peasants were

deprived due to the collective system, which resulted in

insufficient production of grains and other goods.

Consequently, urban residents were required to use coupons

assigned to them monthly from “work units” in exchange for

food and other goods. During the collective era, not only

food and other goods needed in daily life were short in

supply, they also lacked variety; people were essentially

wearing the same kinds of garments, and consumption was

regarded as a “corrupt life style (Yan, 2009).”

During the post-reform era, however, individualization

was rising. China underwent a top-down decollectivization

which boosted the development of a free market economy. Yan

(2009) asserts that there were three waves of mass

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consumption during the post-reform era, and he believes the

third wave of mass consumption bears the essential features

of consumerism, as people were starting to actively pursue

the purchase of consumer goods in order to improve the

quality of life. As a result, as Yan argues, consumerism

replaced collectivism as the new social ideology.

Yan also points out that in the 1990s, as McDonald’s

were emerging in China, the need for new public social

spaces also appeared. McDonald’s were regarded as more than

eating places for many Chinese individuals, since they were

the embodiment of “Americanness” and modernity. As Yan

argues, unlike their counterparts in the U.S., many Chinese

customers liked to linger in such restaurants, even though

the taste of the food was not favored by many customers

(Yan, 2009).

All these phenomena, according to Yan, are indications that

Chinese individuals in this era were vigorously displaying

their individual needs and freedom. As individualism rose,

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post-reform China underwent the individualization of

society.

The first McDonald’s in China opened in 1990; more than

two decades have passed since then. With the diffusion of

smartphones and other digital media, individualism in China

has also taken new forms. According to the data provided in

the last chapter, as online games and entertainment are the

most popular contents shared on the social media in China,

it is clear that nowadays Chinese individuals are actively

displaying and enjoying their individuality through the use

of smartphones and digital media.

In the era of digital media, new channels of expression

and production and more options concerning daily life have

become available. There is now increased room for Chinese

individuals to pursue individualism according to their own

desires and preferences. Because of the appearance of social

media, many daily activities where personality,

characteristics, and values etc. accentuating individuality

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now can be done online. To gain recognition from others no

longer requires one’s physical presence.

The concept of social ties further explains how

digitally augmented individuals become empowered producers

and consumers of information. Though the distinction between

weak and strong social ties is not clearly defined,27 it has

been argued that weak social ties might have more strength

compared to strong social ties regarding generating the flow

of information. Strong social ties tend to circulate and

reinforce already known information, especially when

undisturbed by inputs from other sources. For example, in an

isolated village where the residents live together closely

and rarely encounter outsiders and new information, people

would tend to have similar values and beliefs, since the

channels of acquiring new knowledge are simply absent and

they can only use the limited extant information as sources

for verification, which would only further reinforce what is

already known.

27 In general relationships with family members can be regarded as strong social ties, while ones with friends or more distant people are weak social ties.

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Weak social ties, on the other hand, offer a higher

possibility in providing new information. Granovetter (1973)

argues that compared to strong social ties, weak social ties

bear a higher potential in allowing information to traverse

longer distances and reach more people. Weak social ties do

not develop into strong social ties because they are

relatively loosely connected, and therefore less stable. It

means the agents engaging in such relationships also tend to

have other weak connections, which are new sources for

inputs and information. The higher exposure to the external

environment stimulates more feedback and responses and

ultimately generates the circulation of new information.

In the era of digital media, such mechanisms not only

still exist, but have been amplified by social media, such

as Weibo and WeChat, since they make establishing weak

social ties more accessible and frequent, greatly benefiting

the circulation of information. Therefore, Chinese

individuals have been empowered as producers and consumers

of information through two aspects: digital augmentation

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directly enhances the abilities of the individuals to reach

out and be reached, despite spatial and temporal distances;

furthermore, the interactions among the augmented

individuals tend to generate a higher flow of information

through weak social ties, which encourages further

(re)production of discourse.

The digitally augmented Chinese individuals now have

more options and a variety of forms to display

individuality; in addition, through doing so, more

information tend to be generated by other individuals,

making their digital activities an interactive display of

the unique characteristics of their personal biography.

Therefore, the mediatization and the digital

augmentation of individuals in China continues and

accelerates the process of individualization in China.

The Implications of Digital Individualism

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The further development of individualism in China also

has implications, and this section would like to take a

glimpse through three aspects: the production of public

discourse, the public surveillance and the potential

destabilization of personal beliefs.

1) The Production of Public Discourse

As mentioned in an earlier chapter, mass media enabled

authorities to control the production of mainstream

discourse and manipulate the reality reflected in the media.

In China during Mao’s era,28 mass media had been strong

assets of propaganda for authorities to maintain the status

quo. the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) employed a variety of

methods to carry out political propaganda. Methods such as

mass mobilizations, constructing social models, organizing

work units and study groups, and incarcerating dissentients

for “thought reform” were common practices (Shambaugh,

2007). Mass media such as films, newspapers and posters were28 Roughly refers to 1949 to 1978; from the establishment of People’s Republic of China to the 1978 reform, shortly after Mao’s death in 1976.

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all utilized by the CCP. A propaganda system of using loud

speakers was even deployed nationwide (Shambaugh, 2007;

Brady, 2008).

For example, a particular soldier named Lei Feng, often

appeared in the propaganda materials in Mao’s era. In mass

media such as newspapers and textbooks, he was depicted as

an altruistic individual who was fully devoted to the

Communist Party. Lei Feng as a figure first appeared in

political campaigns in 1963, when “Lei Feng’s Diary” was

released to the public. The diary mainly covered his

selfless acts, his determination of devoting himself to the

revolution and his admiration to Mao (Cull et al., 2003). He

was highly praised by mainstream mass media and depicted as

a social model for common people to emulate.

While a particular individual named Lei Feng may

actually have existed, it is believed by many that “Lei

Feng” as a figure and the social model depicted by the

political propaganda was most likely fabricated (Fraser,

1982; Cull et al., 2003; Tanner, 2009).

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During this era, mass media in China were used by

authorities to control the production of public discourse;

channels for individual expressions were absent and

suppressed by the authorities.

More than half a century has passed since Lei Feng’s

Diary was first made public. In this era of digital media,

as individuals become more powerful producers and consumers

of information, the production of public discourse has

become much more individualized and is often done casually

in daily life. While the authorities have incorporated

digital media to continue their propaganda and often attempt

to steer public discussions, mass media are no longer the

only source for individuals to acquire information. Today,

fabricating a figure like Lei Feng obviously would be much

more difficult and hardly effective on steering public

opinions.

As Weibo went through a boom in the last several years,

certain prominent non-politician individuals, so called “Big

Vs (V stands for “VIP,” such as entrepreneurs or journalists

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whose identities have been verified by Sina, the company who

runs Weibo.),” have attracted millions of followers. Their

posts, while often consisting of only daily trivia,

sometimes address certain heated political topics. Given

their influence, such posts often stimulate many reposts and

comments. In 2013, government-controlled traditional

mainstream media in China castigated certain “Big Vs” for

being “Big Rs”(R stands for Rumors, meaning that they are

responsible for generating and transmitting rumors) (People’s

Daily, 2013). It has been reported (Economists, 2014) that

after the crackdown on “Big Vs,” certain activists have gone

to WeChat to continue their fight over certain political

issues, and it remains questionable whether the Chinese

authorities will have a higher tolerance concerning

political discussions on WeChat, given that WeChat is a

relatively less public platform.

While the Chinese government has taken the method of

severe censorship regarding political discussions online, in

general the authorities do not interfere with non-political

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discussions. In fact, it has become a national strategy to

further develop the availability and improve the quality of

the broadband connection in the country.29

In the era of digital media, while political propaganda

is still existing and has taken new forms through digital

media, Chinese individuals can now participate in the

production of information more actively and easily. The

information created and circulated by common people is now a

major component of information in the cyberworld, indicating

their growing importance in the production of public

discourse.

2) The Public Surveillance in the Era of Digital Media

One uses the external environment as sources of social

and moral standards. In order to gain social recognition,

one needs to behave with such standards in mind and under

29 http://www.gov.cn/zwgk/2013-08/17/content_2468348.htm

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certain rules as a member of society. The fact that those

who act against certain common beliefs have to face the

judgments from others acts as a deterrence for common people

to restrain themselves from doing certain deeds.30 Such

mechanism essentially constitutes a system of surveillance,

in which both authorities and common people assume the role

of practicing surveillance in daily life.

In the era of digital media, the surveillance has been

reinforced. Given the public and interactive nature of

social activities, media, when living in the cyberworld,

individuals are essentially behaving under constant public

surveillance (Tokunaga, 2011; Marwick, 2012; Trottier, 2012;

Trottier and Lyon, 2012).

One often leaves more records and traces on social

media than in the physical world. Even without the one’s

awareness, his/her records on social network can be accessed

by others all the time.31 That is, as long as one has30 Apparently such judgments can be either moral or executed by force, or both.31 Depending on privacy settings on the social network. But such settings do not prevent authorities from accessing one’s records, do they?

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utilized digital media to become an augmented individual,

he/she has chosen to expose a part of his/her identity to

the public in an omnipresent fashion.

The fact that weak social ties can now be established

more easily and frequently through digital media further

illustrates the effectiveness of public surveillance in this

era of digital media.32 Not only that people’s records are

constantly accessible, they can reach further and more

people due to the presence of more weak social ties.

Therefore, given such conditions, while individuals now have

more options when pursuing individualism, they also have to

consider the presence of the surveillance and behave

accordingly.

3) The Potential Destabilization of Personal Beliefs

Hjarvard (2013) regards individualism in the era of

digital media as “soft individualism,” as the “softness”

32 It is referring to the surveillance from common members of society here.

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refers to the detachment of physical social institutions.

However, it does not mean that individuals now are less

attached to society. People still rely on interacting with

other members of the society in order to display their

individuality. He uses the term “social character” to refer

to the mechanism that society uses to set social norms,

demand individuals to act and behave accordingly and punish

those who deviate from such paths. Riesman (1950) points out

that although many may develop a character that conforms to

societal pressure to a lesser extent, the less one fits the

norm, the greater the societal pressure one has to face.

Given that digitally augmented individuals tend to have

more weak social ties now, it is more likely that they

encounter beliefs and values different from their own. When

they do, individuals may face considerable amount of

pressure as their own values are challenged. As individuals

question the validity of their own beliefs, they may be

prone to conform to the external pressure, eventually

leading to the destabilization of their own beliefs.

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For example, recently a particular social phenomenon in

China has often been reported in mainstream media, which

features the frequent absence of help from passerby when

elders fall to the ground in public, questioning moral

decisions.33 The reason for unwilling to help comes from

some earlier reports in which certain elders falsely accused

the passerby who came to help for being responsible for

their falling in order to blackmail the helpers. Through

digital media, the negative impressions have been swiftly

circulated within the public discourse, causing whether to

help in similar situations a moral dilemma for those who

believe in the kindness of human nature.

However, individuals can also benefit from their weak

social ties regarding the uniqueness of their values. The

fact that being exposed to a more open environment grants

one opportunities to encounter different values and opinions

also provides him/her opportunities to meet and group up

with those who share similar perspectives. In such cases, it

33 http://news.sohu.com/20140424/n398721484.shtml; http://www.gov.cn/zwgk/2013-08/17/content_2468348.htm

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can be easier for individuals with non-mainstream values to

live on without conforming to prevailing models and

standards (Kaare and Lundby, 2008).

Conclusion of the Project

Through examining the data on the digital media use in

China that are otherwise difficult to access for European

and North American scholars, this paper takes a close look

at the diffusion of smartphones in China. It is very clear

that digital media have become important and inseparable

part of both society and individuals’ daily lives in the

country. Building upon such evidences, this paper asserts

that China is undergoing a process called mediatization,

which features the prevalence and high utilization of

digital media within society and personal attachment to

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digital media, which results in what is essentially digital

augmentation among individuals.

There was a rise of individuals in post-reform China in

the late 20th century, as consumerism replaced collectivism

as the new social ideology and people were actively pursuing

new public space (Yan, 2009). In the era of digital media,

mediatization and digital augmentation of individuals in

China further extend and accelerate the process of

individualization. Upon being digitally augmented, Chinese

individuals become empowered producers and consumers of

information, exploring and achieving unique characteristics

of personal biography in a more outreaching and informed

manner in daily life.

This paper also briefly discusses several implications

of digital individualism regarding the production of public

discourse, the public surveillance and the potential

destabilization of personal beliefs.

Through digital augmentation, individuals play a more

important role in the production of discourse, strongly

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contrasting the paradigm in Mao’s era, when mass media were

utilized to carry out political propaganda in a national

level. Nowadays, while authorities also have adopted new

technology to continue the propaganda, common individuals

have risen as more powerful participants of the production

of public discourse.

The second argument focuses on the public surveillance

existing in the cyberworld. While public surveillance exists

in physical society in general, digital media have enhanced

such mechanism through the continuous presence of personal

records and the abundance of weak social ties. Individuals

today, while been granted new means to explore and display

individuality, they have to behave with the constant

presence of other members of the society and therefore

restrain their behaviors.

The third argument points out the individuals’ reliance

on the external sources to acquire social and moral

recognition, which generates pressure to conform to the

norms set by popular discourse. The fast circulation of

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information in the era of digital media makes individuals

more likely to be exposed to diverse value and become less

self-directed, making pursuing a path vary from mainstream

social value more difficult. Individuals therefore face the

challenge of potential destabilization of their beliefs.

However, digital augmentation can also grant individuals a

higher chance of finding those who share similar values so

their common values can be reinforced within their own

groups, making not conforming to societal pressure more

accessible.

Mediatization is a quite new phenomenon, and

understanding of the impact of the process is still limited.

As mediatization dramatically changes the paradigm of daily

life, it bears the potential to greatly alter the shape of

societies and cultures. Furthermore, given the fact that

smartphones and digital media appeared only recently but are

already swiftly taking over their predecessors, what could

come in a near future may have even further implications.

The scope of this paper is limited, and there are still much

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work to be done; hopefully the data and insights provided by

this paper could inspire and encourage future efforts.

Based on what has been discussed in this paper, there

are two possible directions that might be of interests for

further studies:

Couldry, Nick, and Curran (2003) point out, media power

is an “emergent form of social power in complex

societies” that functions with fast circulation of

textual and audiovisual information. According to this

definition, digital media seem to have the potential to

challenge the paradigm of power distribution established

by mass media. This paper has argued that through digital

media, Chinese individuals have taken more important

roles in the production of public discourse. Does that

mean the power of conventional mass media has been

weakened?

Whether the Internet can empower individuals in a

political context and ultimately make China more

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democratic has been discussed by many scholars and is

still debatable, as many have pointed out (Zhou, 2006;

Zheng, 2007; Guo, 2013). However, their observations and

discussions regarding the power of the Internet were

largely made before the rise of social media such as

Weibo and WeChat. These so called Web 2.0 platforms

further enhance the role of individuals as producers and

consumers of information, and therefore their potential

deserves further attention from scholars. Do they bear

the potential to push further political changes?

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Acknowledgement

Upon the completion of this Division III project/thesis, I

would like to thank my parents—my mother, Ding Yuzhen, and

my father Wang Wenliang, for their selfless nurturing and

support for more than two decades.

I would like to thank my Division III committee—the chair

Professor James Miller, and the member Professor Kay

Johnson. They have provided me strong support in the writing

of this thesis. This project would not reach the current

96Xiuran Wang

depth and maturity without their guidance and critiques. I’m

very grateful to Professor Miller since he assumed more

responsibility in the process, given that Professor Johnson

was on sabbatical this year.

Despite being on sabbatical and often occupied by personal

works, Professor Johnson managed to keep a close distance

and provided attention to my work. Prior to my Division III,

Professor Johnson was my committee chair and academic

advisor.

Professor Johnson and Professor Miller have helped me become

both a critical thinker and a more mature individual. Many

thanks to them.

I would also like to thank my friends who have accompanied

me and provided help along the way. I’m really glad that I

could share my happiness as well as struggles with them.

Thank you!