Being family via WeChat: Children's interpretation of long‐distance family relationships

This study explores how left‐behind children in rural China maintain long‐distance family relationships through WeChat, highlighting the significant role of social media during family separation. It underscores the importance of considering children's voices in understanding family relationship...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Children & society 2025-01, Vol.39 (1), p.286-303
Main Author: Han, Xiaoying
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Children
Chinese separated families
Computer mediated communication
Economic factors
Economic inequality
Emotions
Families & family life
Family relations
Family roles
left‐behind children
long‐distance relationships
Mass media
Mass media effects
Social inequality
Social media
WeChat
Workshops
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Summary:This study explores how left‐behind children in rural China maintain long‐distance family relationships through WeChat, highlighting the significant role of social media during family separation. It underscores the importance of considering children's voices in understanding family relationships in the digital age. Drawing on online workshops and interviews with 41 participants, the research examines how Chinese left‐behind children use WeChat to facilitate parental engagement and manage their emotions. It also investigates the challenges children face in online communication and their perspectives on grandparental involvement. This article argues that children's agency is situated within structural conditions shaped by a confluence of factors, including technological affordances, unique familial contexts, and socio‐economic inequalities. This situatedness fosters creativity, compromises, and adaptations in ‘being family’ at a distance.
ISSN:0951-0605
1099-0860
DOI:10.1111/chso.12912