"We have found that over the past year, more and more women have given up on their jobs and started making personal investments on the internet." Kim Panpankind, a researcher from the School of Social Sciences at Communication University of China, found that fewer and fewer women, especially younger women, tend to spend more time online socializing and other consumption. Moreover, women with more social media accounts interact with other women more frequently than other women. The researchers believe that the change may be related to women’s concerns about their own economic status. In addition, more Internet-related behaviors will lead to an increased likelihood of more families not having children.
1. Fewer and fewer women are starting to make personal investments on the Internet?
According to a study of women around the world by Columbia University 4, more than 250 million women (78%) around the world have given up their jobs and turned to the Internet. According to an analysis of nearly 4,000 surveyed populations by Panpankind and Kim Panpankind and others, women have reduced their online spending behaviors while working or saving themselves and other consumption behaviors during the past year. It was also found that these behaviors may be related to the economic development, the increased employment pressure on women and global social inequality, etc.; in addition, having a richer social media account may reduce the frequency of their participation in online social activities and increase the frequency of their consumption using other social media accounts. In this context, Panpankind et al. further analyzed the problem (Figure 1).
1. The use of new social media platforms helps to mitigate the impact on work and personal life. They found that although in the past year, those who did not use social media have 60% fewer women than those who used other forms of social media (Figure 2), only 19% of them who used social media did not use other social media. Therefore, this may be due to higher education or having more social media accounts (Figure 3). In terms of using social media, Panpankind et al. found that 72% of women who did not use social media accounts in the past year did not use other social media accounts (Figure 4). In contrast, among women who did not use social media accounts, 56% used their own social media accounts to spend, and 35% used their own chat tools (Figure 5). Among the unused social media accounts, 67% of respondents said they did not use other social media accounts in the social media accounts, or did not attempt to use the social media accounts to spend (Figure 6).
2. Using new media platforms can increase women's willingness to participate in online social activities
Research results show that in the process of using social media accounts to consume, many women said that their shopping behavior is more frequent than before and prefer to reduce spending through shopping. However, they rarely go shopping like before. This may be related to the economic downturn, which may lead to a decrease in their willingness to turn to online shopping (Figure 2). On social media platforms, women interact with friends using accounts of different identities, and some of them may share information about their lives, but many of them are women who are just spending together. And there is a clear difference when interacting with friends when paying with different social media accounts - for example, female friends may spend more time communicating with her friends, while male friends spend less time communicating with them, and they often communicate with more friends (Figure 3). Meanwhile, as women use social media platforms more frequently, their shopping preferences may also change, and these changes may be due to these women using their friends for shopping more frequently.
3. Using new media platforms can help reduce the frequency of using social media with family members and increase women's participation in online social activities
Research found that even in a family with many accounts, women are more likely to not use social media with their parents.This is consistent with previous research, where women always have more time to spend with their family members and they interact more frequently with family members than men. Furthermore, from a gender perspective, women prefer to discuss related topics more frequently with their families on social media than men. Therefore, the richer the social media accounts, the greater the impact it will have on family members participating in online social activities. For example, when using a social media account with parents, different types of social activities can be better combined for management and discussion; while when using a social media account with family, more important information in social relationships may be ignored, thereby affecting their consumption decisions.
4. Actively using new media platforms will help improve online social equality
Panpankind and others also found that the higher the Internet usage rate, the longer the Internet will be used. This may be because the Internet is more likely to be found to be related to social inequality and can increase people's trust in the benefits of the development of the Internet, thereby improving their expectations for future forms of life. In addition, they have found that having more social media accounts may help reduce the frequency of people participating in online activities, thereby increasing their awareness of online social equality and improving personal quality of life globally. For the trend of "feminization" in the Internet era, such research results may provide a clearer reference suggestion.
2. The frequency of interaction with other women is getting higher and higher, and the less you want to have a child?
Although these data are inconsistent with the statistics in our previous studies, Professor Kim Panpankind believes that these data are of great significance to our understanding of the behavior and lifestyle of Chinese women on the Internet. By comparing different genders who are reluctant to have children and who are reluctant to have children, Professor Kim Panpankind found that women are becoming more active on social media, while other men are becoming less active on social media. This shows that social media has become a more important social lifestyle for many women over the past year. On the other hand, they found social media useful for most women. When we have social media chats, people not only use social media to connect, but also often interact with other women through text and videos; they also interact with other women by reading articles about other women sharing things related to their children. This shows that when we are able to communicate effectively with others, we are more inclined to interact with others.
1. In terms of frequency of interaction with other people, there are more women who choose to interact with others, and the same is true for the content of interaction with others.
These data further illustrate that over the past year, people have been more inclined to engage and interact with social media rather than having children. Because the Internet provides people with more opportunities to interact with others, and having children can better promote people's interactions with other social media users. Moreover, among the women surveyed, 83.5% said they were unwilling to have children. This shows that women’s use of the Internet is closely related to other social lifestyles they choose.
2. When using social media with others, most Chinese women like to interact with others, and women are more active than men in this regard, which is consistent with our previous conclusion that Chinese women are more inclined to interact with men.
Kim Panpankind believes that the study shows a causal relationship between our social media use behavior and our reluctance to have children. But at the same time, by comparing the genders of unwilling to have children and unwilling to have children, Professor Kim Panpankind found that the proportion of Chinese women who are unwilling to have children is higher, and the different genders of unwilling to have children are also increasing. This may mean that on the Internet, it’s easier than before to understand what other women have to do with our lives. For women, social media also provides them with an opportunity to interact with other women in their daily lives.And this is also a way for women to interact with everyday life when we are not emotionally connected with other women—increasing attitudes towards others by emotionally connecting with other women.
3. In terms of the frequency of social media chats with others, more women choose to socialize with others every once in a while.
Kim Professor Panpankind also found that our behavior also affects people's use of the Internet. Over the past year, more Chinese women have updated their social networking website content, and they searched for articles on social networking sites more frequently about having children. Compared with the frequency of content updates of social websites, we search for children-related articles on social websites more frequently, such as articles on parenting (related to "Children's Prescriptions"), articles related to parenting knowledge (related to "Children's Prescriptions"), and articles related to "Children's Prescriptions" (related to "Children's Prescriptions"). Compared to the frequency of content updates on social websites, we search for children related to our children (and more articles on parenting), when we search for children related to our Internet (and more articles on parenting), when we search for children related to our Internet (and more articles on parenting), we search for everything related to our children more frequently (and more articles on parenting)... These behaviors all indicate that social media is useful to most Chinese women.
4. In addition to interacting with other women, more than 50% of women choose to communicate with men from other parts of the world (including the United States and Canada) through other forms.
data shows that in these areas, Chinese women (including family members and children) usually use their phones more, with more women interacting with men in other parts of the world through social media, while 41% of men interact via video. The areas where Chinese women have the highest social network activity are Shanghai, followed by Beijing and Guangzhou, with 49% and 41% respectively. This shows that Chinese women are increasingly using their cell phones to interact with men from other parts of the world, especially in cities like Shanghai. This may be because Chinese women are more likely to find information related to their children from abroad, and Chinese women are also more likely to share this information with relatives and friends to relieve the pressure on both parents. On the other hand, this sharing is more attractive, and it is also a global trend: in our world, there are many people of different skin colors and cultures living together, with many common topics and common interests, and when people share on social media, it is naturally easier to connect or build friendly relationships.
3. How do you view the impact of social media on women?
"Although researchers believe that with the rapid development of technology, digital technology is bringing convenience to people, but it is also subtly affecting people - for example, what we said, spending time online will lead to us losing interest in it, even feeling anxious and insecure," said Kim Panpankind. "We believe that with the continuous development of technology, the Internet will gradually change our views on online lifestyles and consumption patterns, thereby changing women's views on family and social functions." Of course, in the research, people cannot be ignored that people are skeptical about the impact of digital technology on marriage and family development. After all, it has become a trend for families to not have children. However, some people believe that technological development will have an impact on society, family members and family development. Moreover, the Internet also plays a certain role in the development of marriage and family.
1. Improve the participation of men and women in the workplace
The development of the Internet has a certain impact on women's workplace participation. Through the survey, women were found to be more involved in social media use and work performance evaluation than men, and distinguished women from men. At the same time, what is most helpful for career development is that women participate in the workplace, while men have the greatest impact on these.Therefore, how to effectively utilize the new generation of Internet media to help women achieve workplace development is also a key issue that needs to be considered. In addition, the study found that in the female workplace, female employees not only use social media more, but also participate more in internal company activities. Sharing product knowledge and work practices among internal employees can help the team solve more problems and also help increase internal employees' participation in social media use.
2. Help women handle family affairs more efficiently
For example, most parents often browse news or view other content on their phones, but it will be more convenient if they have social media. A survey on how to use a cell phone found that about 72% of respondents believed that social media on their phones could help them understand information better and increase their reliance on their phones, which helped them handle family affairs more efficiently, including caring for children, chatting with friends, etc. At the same time, these women are more likely to receive higher quality guidance from work and at home. Apart from mobile phones, people’s biggest reliance on social media is probably computer products. Surveys have found that even the best products are often related to women because they limit women's attention and thinking ability, which can lead to women making more destructive decisions. Social media can make these products more interactive, greatly reducing the difficulty and consequences of women making such decisions.
3. Reduce women's willingness to give birth
Research found that posting children or posting photos of children on social media is more fulfilling than not showing off their babies and reduces their willingness to give birth. Women also have higher requirements for showing off their babies than men. Women's social media behavior of showing off their babies is relatively "extreme", especially for some women who have married and have children, showing off their babies is often widely discussed online (even dozens of times) (and they have been browsed on a certain video website), which is more likely to cause a "sexual suggestion" effect. "Sexual hints" may lead to a decrease in the willingness to give birth, and the same is true for families. However, research has found that women have a stronger tendency to "sexual suggestion" about their baby display behavior (such as "I am a girl"), and passed this pattern to women, which has led to women being more reluctant to choose to have a second or third child. In addition, women are more likely to become depressed and uneasy due to their baby exposure, which reduces their willingness to give birth. This behavior is prone to self-harm, which makes families less willing to have a second or third child (especially more than three child).
