The Influence Of Mobile Media On Social Changes In Xiangxi Minority Areas

From oral to print media,to broadcast media,to the internet,to social media based on the internet,the development of media technology has always been part of the social process that is called modernization.Minority people living in remote rural areas have been experiencing more social economic and cultural changes.This study explores the influence of mobile phones on the social change of Xiangxi Tujia and Miao Autonomous Prefecture of Hunan Province by conducting in depth interview,focus group discussion and participant observation.Meanwhile,the mobile phone helps to strengthen solidity of minority people by using oral communication more often than before.To certain extent,what's happening in this remote rural minority area is re-tribalization in McLuhan's sense.The mobile phone opens a new way for the minority people to catch up with the technological development by acquiring new information.However,a knowledge gap effect seems to appear among those economically and cultural disadvantaged residents.