Chinese students constitute a significant proportion of international students studying in South Korea. As students, they still rely on parents for economic and psychological support, necessitating ongoing interaction with their parents. Due to factors such as physical distance, the traditional offline interaction model between parents and children is no longer applicable. Social media has created new platforms and scenarios for parent-child interaction among international students. For Chinese international students, WeChat, as the most popular social app in China, holds particular importance in this context. Social media not only provides communication opportunities but also introduces new situations for "performance" in online social interactions, such as using group-based blocking on WeChat Moments. Consequently, there is a certain misalignment in the online interaction between international students and their parents through social apps, reflecting a unique style and characteristics of parent-child interactions distinct from traditional methods.
This study collectively terms self-presentation and impression management as "performance." Drawing on Erving Goffman's dramaturgical analysis theory and Joshua Meyrowitz's media situation theory, this study explores the motivations behind this "performance," the strategic features it presents, the factors influencing it, and the role of social media. Methodologically, the study adopts a qualitative research approach through in-depth interviews. A semi-structured questionnaire was developed as a tool for in-depth interviews, and 25 Chinese international students from universities and graduate schools in the Seoul area were selected as interviewees. Through three levels of coding based on grounded theory: open coding, axial coding, and selective coding, the data was classified and analyzed, and a performance model was constructed.
The study found that WeChat, as an emerging media technology, has become the primary means of communication for Chinese families in long-distance relationships, creating new situations for family communication, reshaping their communication contexts, and providing a stage for "performances." The motivations for "performance" are mainly categorized as mitigating parent-child conflicts and presenting an ideal self-image. From the perspective of influencing factors, factors such as communication habits, intimacy, family atmosphere all can affect "performance" at the individual level. At the platform level, social media not only provides functionality but also imposes limitations. Under the generalized social context of Moments, children engage in impression management under context collapse, leading to social media fatigue. Social media fatigue does not only exist at the emotional level, but gradually transforms into specific strategic actions and enters the system of "performance." The main strategies for "performance" include idealized expressions (sharing joy but concealing worries), audience isolation, and user migration.
In summary, "performance" is an effort by international students to maintain a good and stable relationship with their parents, serving as an essential means to balance their offline and online lives. While "performance" seems to play a positive role in maintaining parent-child relationships on the surface, it does not imply the resolution or disappearance of conflicts. Therefore, this study suggests that the construction of a positive and healthy parent-child relationship still requires joint efforts and exploration from both parents and children.