The Role of Social Media in the Acculturation Process of Chinese International Students

DOI

10.2991/978-2-494069-97-8_119How to use a DOI?

Keywords

Social media; Acculturation; Chinese international students; Study abroad

Abstract

Studying abroad is still a growing popular trend in the 21st century. Comparatively speaking, the route and procedures offered by international students to prepare in China is a sophisticated industry. Nevertheless, as students are abroad, acculturation becomes the main issue they will encounter while exposed to an unfamiliar culture. In such a digital age, social media is critical in the situation of cultural adaptation. Language barriers, discrimination, and social isolation are possible challenges students could face during acculturation, which may further develop into acculturation stress and experience mental frustrations. Fortunately, social media is a way for students to deal with problems like homesickness and stress. Not only could it benefit students to understand the adopted culture better and, at the same time, maintain their existing interpersonal relationships, but it also promotes globalization and cross-culturally understanding. However, social media could bring other issues and reduce Chinese international students’ chances to acculturate while conveying other psychological distress and difficulties. The paper aims to determine the extent to which social media is critical for Chinese international students in the process of acculturation. Present multiple aspects of how social media influences acculturation and evaluate both the positive and negative consequences of utilizing social media when studying abroad. The result of this article recommends that appropriate use of social media can facilitate the process of acculturation for Chinese students, albeit in an age of digital age where one cannot disassociate oneself from the internet. The excessive use of social media can lead to difficulties in cultural adjustment or adaptation as well as psychological difficulties.

Copyright

© 2023 The Author(s)

Open Access

Open Access This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits any noncommercial use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made.

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TY  - CONF
AU  - Ruoxi Wu
PY  - 2023
DA  - 2023/02/13
TI  - The Role of Social Media in the Acculturation Process of Chinese International Students
BT  - Proceedings of the 2022 4th International Conference on Literature, Art and Human Development (ICLAHD 2022)
PB  - Atlantis Press
SP  - 941
EP  - 948
SN  - 2352-5398
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/978-2-494069-97-8_119
DO  - 10.2991/978-2-494069-97-8_119
ID  - Wu2023
ER  -