"Settle Down" To "Flow":Wechat Use And Urban Integration Of "Elderly Immigrants" In Chongqing

In the context of urbanization,aging and digitization,population “flow” has become a common phenomenon.The “elderly immigrants”,who want to help their children take care of their grandchildren or try to meet their children's needs,move to the city where their children live,leaving their bodies and minds adrift.This study adopts the method of questionnaire and virtual ethnography to study the influence of Wechat on urban integration of “elderly immigrants” over 55 years old in Chongqing and the obstacles they encounter when using Wechat.After outlining the status of Wechat use and urban integration of the “elderly immigrants” in Chongqing,the paper mainly studies how the “elderly immigrants”make new friends in their migratory places by using Wechat.The study found that the“elderly immigrants” joined multiple Wechat groups by making offline friends and participating in dances groups,thus “embedding” themselves in new social networks.Wechat group has become a starting point for the “elderly immigrants” to weave and construct their new social network in their migratory places.In Wechat groups,the“elderly immigrants” promote community construction through various ritualistic communication and discussions of common topics,so as to enhance their own “sense of identity” and “sense of belonging” and further integrate into the city.The paper then studies how the “elderly immigrants” use Wechat to contact their relatives and friends in the immigratory place.The study found that the “elderly immigrants” “transplanted” the social network of their hometown into Wechat through colleague groups or hometown groups,so as to retrieve and maintain the old social relations,forming a “flowing sense of place”.When they return home,most of them also use Wechat to flexibly switch between the social network of migratory and immigratory places,thus maintaining and consolidating their interpersonal relationships and better integrating into urban life.According to the research results,the use of Wechat has a positive effect on the urban integration of the “elderly immigrants”,but there are still some factors hindering their use.Therefore,the paper analyzes the difficulties encountered by“elderly immigrants” in adopting and using Wechat in terms of individual,family and social,as well as puts forward corresponding countermeasures and suggestions.