Research On Douyin Self-disclosure Behavior Of Elderly Females From The Perspective Of Social Exchange Theory

The elderly females in China generally grew up in an era of relative scarcity of material and educational resources,and then lacked certain media literacy.Facing the sea of self-media information,they were often regarded as "laggards" of the era.However,with the continuous penetration of Internet media technology in the lives of the elderly,elderly users are increasingly active in various new media platforms.At the same time,compared with men,older women seem to be more eager to learn and use emerging media,especially short videos.With retirement and spare-time life,elderly female users have the time conditions to access new media such as short videos,and they are not absent from the Douyin short video platform.They either show themselves with talent performances and video selfies,or sob and tell about life in the face of the camera.They disclose themselves in a variety of ways and construct their own life trajectory with media.This study uses the qualitative research methods of participatory observation,online ethnography,and in-depth interviews to study the elderly females who have had different degrees of self-disclosure behavior on the Douyin platform,and explore the emotional factors behind the self-disclosure of elderly female users.According to the research,the essence of the self-disclosure of elderly women on the Douyin platform is to engage in social exchange in the context of the Internet.They are eager to obtain compensation through self-disclosure on the Douyin short video platform,which has been absent for long time in their real life.From the perspective of social exchange theory,there are both material and spiritual levels of remuneration,both endogenous and exogenous.Through self-disclosure on the Douyin platform,elderly females can shape their idealized self,seek virtual identity and relieve their personal worries.Although they face problems such as personal privacy disclosure at the same time,through the rational measurement of the “social exchange cost benefit mechanism”,the benefits of taking short video self-disclosure behaviors are far greater than the exchange costs,so the group’s self-disclosure behavior on the Douyin short video platform is still continuing.Based on Blau’s social exchange theory,this study analyzes the self-disclosure behavior and psychology of elderly women on the Douyin platform from the perspective of sociology,communication and other theories.Starting from the three-dimensional disclosure methods of portrait,information and emotion,this study builds a series of motivation mechanisms behind the disclosure behavior,and proposes regulations for the possible security crisis caused by users’ excessive disclosure behavior.This study has the following significance: on the one hand,this study combines the reality of the media life of the elderly group,and puts forward opinions for the elderly female users to reasonably use the short video platform to record their lives in the current aging society,and makes contributions to the macro measures of aging adaptation;On the other hand,through the innovative application of social exchange theory,this study focuses on the media use psychology of elderly women,actively guides the society and relevant platforms to follow the spiritual demands of elderly women,continuously improve the management system,and support the media use needs of elderly female groups.