| The popularization of intelligent media tools in the information age has brought tremendous changes to the society,and the left-behind children in the rural society are inevitably bound by modernity.When media tools become an important part of left-behind children’s daily life,what changes will media use bring to their behavior and psychological state? Is it to make the left-behind children’s vision more open and to enhance the shaping of self-identity? Or in turn,is it threatens the peaceful life of left-behind children and aggravates the imbalance of self-identity?In this paper,from the perspective of self-identity theory,taking the left-behind children in Jiangling County,Jingzhou City,Hubei Province as an example,the basic situation of the use of left-behind children’s media in this area is cleared up by sending questionnaires to these kids who have media contact.The author then selects dozens of deep users of media,records the media life of left-behind children in the information era in the form of participatory observation,semi-structured interviews and focus groups,and explores the relationship between left-behind children’s media use behavior and self-identity experience.The survey found that among many mass media tools,smart phones are the most frequently used.In left-behind families,buying a mobile phone for their kids is regarded as a ceremony to celebrate "growth".Through mobile phones,left-behind children can meet their communication,entertainment and information needs from social software apps,short videos and games.Based on the threat of the imbalance of self-identity brought by the use of media,this paper further explores the interaction between the two,and finds that the involvement of media in the life of left-behind children makes their self-identity and positioning fuzzy.Then they lose the sense of self role orientation and self-definiteness.Conversely,in order to maintain the stability of self-identity,left-behind children maintain their continuity and prove their role competency by increasing media communication and media consumption.Left-behind children’s media use behavior makes them in the cycle of imbalance and maintenance of self-identity,which is difficult to escape.The study also found that the left behind children’s media use behavior has an important impact on their three dimensions of self-concept: physical self,emotional self and social self.In the body level self-experience,the left behind children gain information power and sensory stimulation through the use of media,and compensate money with energy;In the spiritual self-experience,with the help of the media,the left behind children realized their resistance to the external label and self-psychological healing;In the self-experience of social interaction,through the communication of media and the transmission of information,the left behind children show the worship of power reputation,the re-examination of teacher-student relationship and parent-child relationship,as well as the trust in the communication between peers,and find the same loving group in the network,and enhance self-identity in the interaction.Finally,it is worth noting that sometimes value deviation occurs in left-behind children’s self-identity,which requires correct guidance and intervention from the outside world. |
