The current situation and influential factors of bottom-up technology transmission in Chinese rural families
List of Authors
  • Siti Ezaleila Mustafa , Wu, Nan

Keyword
  • Digital media, bottom-up technology transmission, WeChat, rural families, three generations

Abstract
  • With the rapid development of science and technology and the drastic changes of society, the digital generation gap has a negative impact on intergenerational relationships. To help the older generation integrate into the digital world and narrow the digital generation gap within families, this study investigated the current situation of three-generation bottom-up technology transmission in Chinese rural families and explored the factors related to this process. Using the questionnaire survey, we surveyed 436 samples of 79 families in China, including 197 grandparents, 122 parents and 117 children. The results show that most of the older generation learn to use WeChat from the younger generation. Although the grandparents’ adoption and use of digital media are significantly lower than those of the parents, they are significantly more receptive to bottomup technology transmission than the parents. Furthermore, bottom-up technology transmission is mainly related to the demographic characteristics, subjective feelings, psychological expectations, degree of interaction and intimacy of family members. The more vulnerable individuals (older, less educated, female, less self-efficacy and more psychological disorders), the more likely they are to receive bottom-up technology transmission. The findings emphasized the important influence of mediated communication and intimacy in bottom-up technology transmission in Chinese rural families.

Reference
  • 1. Bakardjieva, M. (2005). Internet society: The internet in everyday life. Sage.
    2. Barrantes Cáceres, R., & Cozzubo Chaparro, A. (2017). Age for learning, age for teaching: The role of inter-generational, intra-household learning in Internet use by older adults in Latin America. Information, Communication & Society, 22(2), 250–266. https://doi.org/10.1080/1369118x.2017.1371785
    3. Bertol, K. E., Broilo, P. L., Espartel, L. B., & Basso, K. (2017). Young children’s influence on family consumer behavior. Qualitative Market Research: An International Journal, 20(4), 452–468. https://doi.org/10.1108/qmr-07-2016-0057
    4. Boubker, O., Naoui, K., Ouajdouni, A., & Arroud, M. (2022). The effect of action-based entrepreneurship education on intention to become an entrepreneur. MethodsX, 9, 101657. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mex.2022.101657
    5. China Internet Network Information Center. (2022, August 31). The 50th statistical report on the development status of the internet in China. CNNIC. http://www.cnnic.net.cn/n4/2022/0914/c88-10226.html
    6. Correa, P. R., Rondan-Cataluña, F. J., & Gaitán, J. A. (2013). Exploration of the factors that affect the adoption of social networking services by generation in Chile. Interciencia, 38(9), 628-633.
    7. Correa, T. (2014). Bottom-up technology transmission within families: Exploring how youths influence their parents’ digital media use with dyadic data. Journal of Communication, 64(1), 103–124. https://doi.org/10.1111/jcom.12067
    8. Crocco, M. S., Cramer, J., & Meier, E. B. (2008). (Never) Mind the gap! Gender equity in social studies research on technology in the twenty‐first century. Multicultural Education & Technology Journal, 2(1), 19–36. https://doi.org/10.1108/17504970810867133
    9. Ding, H. (2019). Digital back-feeding of Chinese families: Overview, influential factors and effects [Master’s thesis, Shenzhen University]. CNKI Database.
    10. Ding, X., & Guan, C. (2017). The construction of family ethos and family precepts: A vivid practice of practicing the core socialist values. Realistic, 8, 32-35.
    11. Ekström, K. M. (2007). Parental consumer learning or “keeping up with the children”. Journal of Consumer Behaviour, 6(4), 203–217. https://doi.org/10.1002/cb.215
    12. Fernández-Ardèvol, M. (2014). No country for old men? Analyzing older people’s attitudes toward mobile communication. The European Communication Research and Education Association.
    13. Haddon, L. (2006). The contribution of domestication research to in-home computing and media consumption. The Information Society, 22(4), 195–203. https://doi.org/10.1080/01972240600791325
    14. Hong, J., & Li, X. (2019). The “cultural feedback” of WeChat in rural families: A case study of ChenQu Village. Chinese Journal of Journalism & Communication, 41(10), 50-74.
    15. Huang, C., Li, C., & Pan, P. (2016). A study of intergenerational family network feedbacks: The perspective of elders. Jingyi Journal of Humanities and Society, (7), 141-190.
    16. Hussain, N., & Ismail, N. (2021). Young people’s WeChat use that heightens online grooming vulnerability. SEARCH Journal of Media and Communication Research, 1, 1-17.
    17. Hyatt, C., Kerwin, S., Hoeber, L., & Sveinson, K. (2018). The reverse socialization of sport fans: How children impact their parents’ sport fandom. Journal of Sport Management, 32(6), 542–554. https://doi.org/10.1123/jsm.2017-0263
    18. Ito, M., Horst, H. A., Bittanti, M., Herr Stephenson, B., Lange, P. G., Pascoe, C. J., & Robinson, L. (2009). Living and learning with new media: Summary of findings from the digital youth project. The MIT Press.
    19. Jiang, Y. (2008). A study on the factors influencing media literacy from the perspective of family socialization: A case study of the media literacy of middle school students and their parents in Nanning [Doctoral dissertation, Communication University of China]. CNKI Database.
    20. Jiang, Y., & Luo, A. (2009). Analysis of the phenomenon of network technology feedback and its family influencing factors: An empirical study on middle school students’ online technology feedbacks to their parents. Proceedings of the 2009 China New Media Communication Academy Annual Conference.
    21. Jiao, R., & Wei, J. (2020). Brand expansion through reverse socialization: An example of iPhone in China. Qualitative Market Research: An International Journal, 23(1), 1-20. https://doi.org/10.1108/qmr-08- 2018-0089
    22. Katz, V. S. (2010). How children of immigrants use media to connect their families to the community: The case of Latinos in South Los Angeles. Journal of Children and Media, 4(3), 298-315. https://doi.org/10.1080/17482798.2010.486136
    23. Kerrane, B., Hogg, M. K., & Bettany, S. M. (2012). Children’s influence strategies in practice: Exploring the co-constructed nature of the child influence process in family consumption. Journal of Marketing Management, 28(7-8), 809-835. https://doi.org/10.1080/0267257x.2012.698633
    24. Khairulnissa, A. K., Krisnan, L., Kaundan, M. K., & Aziz, A. A. (2021). Emerging themes in Facebook and Twitter before Movement Control Order (MCO) in Malaysia. SEARCH Journal of Media and Communication Research, 13(1), 47-60.
    25. Kiesler, S., Zdaniuk, B., Lundmark, V., & Kraut, R. (2000). Troubles with the internet: The dynamics of help at home. Human-Computer Interaction, 15(4), 323-351. https://doi.org/10.1207/s15327051hci1504_2
    26. Korupp, S., & Szydlik, M. (2005). Causes and trends of the digital divide. European Sociological Review, 21(4), 409-442. https://doi.org/10.1093/esr/jci030
    27. Li, X. (2017). The “Cultural Feedback” of WeChat in rural families [Master’s thesis, Wuhan University]. CNKI Database.
    28. Lin, R. (2014). “The alienated generation”? Analysis of intergenerational exchange among generations living in different places. Family and Gender Review, 5, 86-105.
    29. Livingstone, S. (2009). Children and the internet. Polity.
    30. Lu, S., Bao, L., & Lin, P. (2012). A tentative study on the embodiment of “cultural feedback” in the field of family environmental education. Journal of Capital Normal University (Natural Science Edition), (8), 72-76+87.
    31. Lüders, M., & Brandtzæg, P. B. (2017). “My children tell me it’s so simple”: A mixed-methods approach to understand older non-users’ perceptions of social networking sites. New Media & Society, 19(2), 181- 198. https://doi.org/10.1177/1461444814554064
    32. Nelissen, S., & Van den Bulck, J. (2018). When digital natives instruct digital immigrants: Active guidance of parental media use by children and conflict in the family. Information, Communication & Society, 21(3), 375-387. https://doi.org/10.1080/1369118x.2017.1281993
    33. Plowman, L., Stephen, C., & McPake, J. (2010). Supporting young children’s learning with technology at home and in preschool. Research Papers in Education, 25(1), 93-113. https://doi.org/10.1080/02671520802584061
    34. Shim, S., Serido, J., & Barber, B. L. (2011). A consumer way of thinking: Linking consumer socialization and consumption motivation perspectives to adolescent development. Journal of Research on adolescence, 21(1), 290-299. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1532-7795.2010.00730.x
    35. Stephen, C., McPake, J., Plowman, L., & Berch-Heyman, S. (2008). Learning from the children: Exploring preschool children’s encounters with ICT at home. Journal of Early Childhood Research, 6(2), 99-117. https://doi.org/10.1177/1476718x08088673
    36. Tencent Center for Internet & Society. (2018). How to make games a bridge between parents and children. Tencent. https://tengyun.tencent.com/w/tea_party
    37. The Official Website of the People’s Government of Suixi County. (2022). Introduction to Liuqiao Town, Suixi County. Suixi County. https://www.sxx.gov.cn/zwgk/public/2031/18479821.html
    38. Wang, X., Du, X., & Wang, L. (2021). Close or alienated: Research on the impact of new rural pension scheme on inter-generational emotional support among Chinese rural families. Journal of Nanjing Agricultural University (Social Sciences Edition), 21(4), 76-85.
    39. Watne, T., Lobo, A., & Brennan, L. (2011). Children as agents of secondary socialisation for their parents. Young Consumers, 12(4), 285-294. https://doi.org/10.1108/17473611111185841
    40. Wu, W., & Long, H. (2016). Reconstruction of communication situation and technological empowerment— Use and information interaction of WeChat in remote families. Contemporary Communication, 5, 95- 98.
    41. Yan, W. (2018). The functional evolution of the Chinese family and the adaptive change of the pension model. Guangxi Social Sciences, 5, 168-171.
    42. Yan, Y., & Yang, W. (2017). Social egoism: Chinese-style intimacy: Intergenerational intimacy and descending familism in rural northern China. Exploration and Free Views, 7, 4-15+1.
    43. Zhou, X. (2000). Cultural feedback: Parent-child Transmission in a Changing Society. Sociological Studies, 02, 53-68.
    44. Zhou, X. (2008). Conflict and identity: Intergenerational relations in the context of globalisation. Chinese Journal of Sociology, 28(2), 19.
    45. Zhou, Y. (2014). Digital Generation Gap and Cultural Feedback: A Quantitative Study of the “Silent Revolution” in the Family. Modern Communication, 2, 117-123.
    46. Zhou, Y., & Ding, H. (2020). The overview and influential factors of digital back-feeding among the three generations of chinese families. Chinese Journal of Journalism & Communication, 42(3), 6-31.
    47. Zhu, J. J., & He, Z. (2002). Perceived characteristics, perceived needs, and perceived popularity: Adoption and use of the Internet in China. Communication Research, 29(4), 466-495. https://doi.org/10.1177/0093650202029004005
    48. Zhu, X. (2015). Teenagers’ mobile phone use, digital generation gap and cultural feedback: An empirical analysis based on families of middle school students in Zhangzhou City, Fujian Province. Journalism and Mass Communication Monthly, 11, 47-53.
    49. Zhu, X. (2018). Mobile phone technology feedback, parent-child communication and parental rearing methods: An analysis based on the integrated model of technology acceptance and use. Journalism Research, 8, 108-119+115.