A Study of Chinese Students’ Media Dependence on Douyin in Malaysia

Abstract

This paper uses the “Media System Dependency Theory” proposed by American communication scholars Paul Rockich and Melvin DeFleur as a research framework to investigate the deep-seated reasons for the dependence of Chinese international students on Jitterbug in social media, and to propose countermeasures. Overseas students are an important force for the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation, and their values will influence the values of the whole society in the future. The international students are in the period of value formation and cognition, so it is very important to grasp the cognition formation in this period. With the advent of the mobile Internet era, short video social media, represented by Jitterbug, has become one of the most popular leisure and entertainment platforms for international students. However, while Jitterbug has brought rich experiences to young people, some negative effects have come along with it. Many international students seem to be inseparable from Jitterbug, gradually developing into a strongly sticky “relationship chimera”. It can be said that tens of thousands of international students not only cannot leave Jitterbug, but also gradually develop a kind of “dependency syndrome”—spending a lot of time and energy indulging in it, experiencing negative effects such as reduced attention span and indifferent interpersonal communication, and becoming doubly dependent on Jitterbug in terms of emotion and behavior. This study aims to examine the effects of the dual dependence on Jitterbug. Therefore, this study hopes to analyze the dependence of international students on Jitterbug as a social media and propose countermeasures to improve the media literacy of international students.