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Wrist-bound Guanxi, Jiazu, and Kuolie: Unpacking Chinese Adolescent Smartwatch-Mediated Socialization

Lanjing Liu, Chao Zhang, Zhicong Lu

Abstract

Adolescent peer relationships, essential for their development, are increasingly mediated by digital technologies. As this trend continues, wearable devices, especially smartwatches tailored for adolescents, are reshaping their socialization. In China, smartwatches like XTC have gained wide popularity, introducing unique features such as "Bump-to-Connect" and exclusive social platforms. Nonetheless, how these devices influence adolescents' peer experience remains unknown. Addressing this, we interviewed 18 Chinese adolescents (age: 11 -- 16), discovering a smartwatch-mediated social ecosystem. Our findings highlight the ice-breaking role of smartwatches in friendship initiation and their use for secret messaging with local peers. Within the online smartwatch community, peer status is determined by likes and visibility, leading to diverse pursuit activities (i.e., chu guanxi, jiazu, kuolie) and negative social dynamics. We discuss the core affordances of smartwatches and Chinese cultural factors that influence adolescent social behavior and offer implications for designing future wearables that responsibly and safely support adolescent socialization.

Wrist-bound Guanxi, Jiazu, and Kuolie: Unpacking Chinese Adolescent Smartwatch-Mediated Socialization

Abstract

Adolescent peer relationships, essential for their development, are increasingly mediated by digital technologies. As this trend continues, wearable devices, especially smartwatches tailored for adolescents, are reshaping their socialization. In China, smartwatches like XTC have gained wide popularity, introducing unique features such as "Bump-to-Connect" and exclusive social platforms. Nonetheless, how these devices influence adolescents' peer experience remains unknown. Addressing this, we interviewed 18 Chinese adolescents (age: 11 -- 16), discovering a smartwatch-mediated social ecosystem. Our findings highlight the ice-breaking role of smartwatches in friendship initiation and their use for secret messaging with local peers. Within the online smartwatch community, peer status is determined by likes and visibility, leading to diverse pursuit activities (i.e., chu guanxi, jiazu, kuolie) and negative social dynamics. We discuss the core affordances of smartwatches and Chinese cultural factors that influence adolescent social behavior and offer implications for designing future wearables that responsibly and safely support adolescent socialization.
Paper Structure (66 sections, 3 figures, 2 tables)

This paper contains 66 sections, 3 figures, 2 tables.

Table of Contents

  1. Introduction
  2. Related Work
  3. Peer Relations in Adolescence
  4. Adolescent Online Social Behavior
  5. Smartwatch Use among Children and Adolescents
  6. Online Social Interactions in Chinese Contexts
  7. Research Context: Smartwatches for Chinese Youth
  8. Methods
  9. Participants
  10. Data Collection
  11. Semi-structured interviews
  12. Smartwatch Content
  13. Data Analysis
  14. Ethical Considerations
  15. Positionality Statement
  16. ...and 51 more sections

Figures (3)

  • Figure 1: The main interface, features, and appearance of smartwatches. A. Personal Profile, including profile picture, nickname, real name, account information, bios, points, level, and badge wall. B. Dashboard for likes, featuring 'today's likes,' 'total likes,' and 'who likes me today.' C. Friend List within MiniChat, displaying friends' profile pictures and nicknames. D. Friend Chat functionality allowing users to input text via voice and send 'points' red packets, among other features. E. Friend Circle, a platform for users to post content and receive likes and comments. F. Bump-To-Connect feature interface and user gestures.
  • Figure 2: The social ecosystem of Smartwatch-Mediated Socialization, encompassing socialization with local peers, socialization with online peers, and negative social dynamics.
  • Figure 3: Examples of how adolescents engage in social activities on smartwatches. A. Indicating Guanxi with others in their bios. B. Posting Guanxi established with others in their Friend Circle. C. Seeking Kuolie within the Friend Circle. D. Displaying their Jiazu and their positions within the family on their profiles. E. Posters recruiting for Jiazu, including information about the Jiazu and recruitment requirements. F. Engaging in Kuolie activities on other social platforms. To safeguard the participants' privacy, we have redrawn Figures A-E based on the supplementary materials provided by them, using fictitious names and modified content.