当超级软件变成超级干扰:再驯化视角下的微信朋友圈使用

Re-domesticating Social Media:Evidence from China’s“Super App”WeChat

微信已经成为中国人日常生活的数字化基础设施,然而微信“超中心性”和结构性力量给人们的日常生活带来干扰,也引发了用户策略性的应对方式,例如分组、屏蔽、暂时性关闭或者调整朋友圈的发言内容等。本文创新性地提出“再驯化”概念,通过对21名微信朋友圈“中断使用者”的深度访谈,旨在运用这个概念框架分析人们如何应对新科技带来的干扰,继而探索社交媒体实践背后隐含的微观行为过程。研究发现,通过再驯化,人们将朋友圈从一个混乱的“空间”转变成影响个体社会身份和职业幸福感的工具。具体来说,本文发现用户通过“使用-不使用-重新使用”的周期性循环来“再驯化”新科技;并认为对朋友圈的再驯化是对整个驯化过程的“重启”,这是个体重新获得对生活的掌控和实现自我赋权的能动性过程。

Drawing upon semi-structured interviews with 21 non-users who used WeChat Moments for at least 6 months,this article discusses the complex dynamics of Moments use,exploring the implicit micro-behavioral process of social media practice.It argues that the re-domestication of Moments is a“reboot”of the whole process of domestication through four key stages:re-appropriation,re-objectification,re-incorporation,and re-conversion.Re-domestication is a process that allows people to take a retrospective look at their lives and transform Moments from a disruptive app feature into an instrumental apparatus conducive to their personal and professoinal well-being.