









































Communication, Society and Media 
ISSN 2576-5388 (Print) ISSN 2576-5396 (Online) 

Vol. 6, No. 3, 2023 
www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/csm 

21 
 

Original Paper 

A Study of Chinese Students’ Media Dependence on Douyin in 

Malaysia 
Xu Duo1&2* & Faridah Ibrahim1 

1 Infrastructure University Kuala Lumpur, MALAYSIA 
2 He Xi University, CHINA 
* Xu Duo, Infrastructure University Kuala Lumpur, MALAYSIA; He Xi University, CHINA 

 

Received: July 12, 2023          Accepted: July 22, 2023         Online Published: July 31, 2023 

doi:10.22158/csm.v6n3p21                       URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.22158/csm.v6n3p21 

 

Abstract 

This paper uses the “Media System Dependency Theory” proposed by American communication 

scholars Paul Rockich and Melvin DeFleur as a research framework to investigate the deep-seated 

reasons for the dependence of Chinese international students on Jitterbug in social media, and to 

propose countermeasures. Overseas students are an important force for the great rejuvenation of the 

Chinese nation, and their values will influence the values of the whole society in the future. The 

international students are in the period of value formation and cognition, so it is very important to 

grasp the cognition formation in this period. With the advent of the mobile Internet era, short video 

social media, represented by Jitterbug, has become one of the most popular leisure and entertainment 

platforms for international students. However, while Jitterbug has brought rich experiences to young 

people, some negative effects have come along with it. Many international students seem to be 

inseparable from Jitterbug, gradually developing into a strongly sticky “relationship chimera”. It can 

be said that tens of thousands of international students not only cannot leave Jitterbug, but also 

gradually develop a kind of “dependency syndrome”—spending a lot of time and energy indulging in it, 

experiencing negative effects such as reduced attention span and indifferent interpersonal 

communication, and becoming doubly dependent on Jitterbug in terms of emotion and behavior. This 

study aims to examine the effects of the dual dependence on Jitterbug. Therefore, this study hopes to 

analyze the dependence of international students on Jitterbug as a social media and propose 

countermeasures to improve the media literacy of international students. 

Keywords 

Chinese students in Malaysia, Douyin, media dependence 

 



www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/csm               Communication, Society and Media                Vol. 6, No. 3, 2023 

 

 
22 

Published by SCHOLINK INC. 

 

1. Introduction 

The popularity of smartphones and the improvement of Internet facilities have made Jitterbug, with 

short videos as the main form of expression, increasingly occupy the audience’s free time and penetrate 

into people’s daily life more and more deeply. The 49th Statistical Report on the Development of the 

Internet in China shows that as of December 2022, the number of Internet users in China reached 1.032 

billion, up 42.96 million from December 2021, and the Internet penetration rate reached 73.0%. The 

scale of short video users is 934 million. According to the “2022 Jitterbug Data Report” released by 

Jitterbug, the daily active user volume of Jitterbug has reached 600 million, the daily search frequency 

of users for videos has reached 400 million, and the monthly active audience volume has exceeded 5.5 

billion. This shows that Douyin has become more and more important in the lives of its users. Among 

them, international students are increasingly prominent in the proportion of the short video audience, as 

the short video social platform provides a more convenient way for them to communicate with 

information, leisure and entertainment, study and education. China Short Video Industry Market Size 

and User Profile Analysis 2022” shows that the age of the audience using short video is 28.5 percentage 

points below 24 years old, 24.9 percentage points between 25 and 30 years old, and 26.4 percentage 

points between 31 and 35 years old. In addition, the proportion of users above 36 years old and below 

40 years old is 14.2 percentage points. In addition, the proportion of users above 36 years old and 

below 40 years old accounted for 14.2 percentage points. In addition, the percentage of the audience 

over 40 years old is 6 percentage points. Through the statistics, we can draw a more accurate 

conclusion that people under the age of 35 are the main force of watching and using short videos at 

present. 

In order to make the age group studied in this paper more relevant to the reality, the age group of 

international students is delineated according to the medium and long-term development plan for young 

international students (2016-2025): 14-35 years old is the main group of international students. It can 

be concluded that people aged 15 and below are still basically at the stage of compulsory education in 

China, and the number of international students abroad does not constitute the main group yet. Since 

the media use behavior of international students aged 14-35 is influenced by multiple factors, in order 

to more accurately reflect the phenomenon of Jitterbug media dependence among international students, 

this paper sets the research population as overseas students aged 16 to 35 and takes Chinese students in 

Malaysia as the research sample. 

The influence of young people in various fields is self-evident. Since the 18th National Congress, 

General Secretary Xi Jinping has frequently interacted with overseas students through speeches, talks 

and letters, and has placed great expectations on young Chinese students of today. As the “indigenous” 

group of international students, their media usage preferences will deeply influence their cognitive 

formation. While Jitterbug has brought positive effects to the international students, some negative 



www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/csm               Communication, Society and Media                Vol. 6, No. 3, 2023 

 

 
23 

Published by SCHOLINK INC. 

 

effects also come along. International students are easily attracted to new things, and inevitably spend a 

lot of time on the use of Jitterbug. In addition, Jitterbug’s one-click sharing, production, commenting 

and retweeting mechanism is simple and straightforward, which easily attracts international students to 

become the main body of creation and viewing and sharing. In the use of Jitterbug, international 

students seem to be in control, and they can post videos, comment and like, and forward interesting 

videos as they like, which not only satisfies their own emotional needs but also enhances social 

communication. Therefore, when young people cannot find a better “substitute” in the real world, they 

may become dependent on Jitterbug, resulting in a double dependence on Jitterbug in terms of 

psychological and behavioral aspects. This leads to a double dependence on Jitterbug in terms of 

psychology and behavior. Therefore, studying the current media dependence of international students 

on Jitterbug has certain practical significance and academic value. 

A search on the Internet with the keywords “media dependence”, “ShakeTV” and “international 

students” yielded a total of 8 articles, 2 of which explicitly focus on “international students”. Among 

them, two papers explicitly focus on “international students” to study the media dependence 

phenomenon of Jitterbug, one paper focuses on “Racer”, and the other five papers mainly focus on 

“college students”. It can be seen that the number of media dependence studies focusing on the group 

of “international students” is relatively small. As an important force for national development, the 

importance of studying the media dependence of international students is obvious. By reducing the 

search terms and searching with “media dependence”, there are 1057 papers, mostly on “cell phone”, 

“video game”, “social media”, “WeChat”, and “social media”. The media dependence analysis was 

conducted by reducing the search terms to “media dependence”, and there were a total of 1057 articles, 

mostly on “mobile phone”, “video game”, “social media”, “WeChat” and “microblog”. Then we 

searched by adding the keywords “Shake” and “media dependence”, and the number of literature was 

only 23, mostly from “media alienation”, “digital labor” and “information cocoon”. The number of 

articles searched was only 23, mostly from the perspectives of “media alienation”, “digital labor”, 

“information cocoon”, “use and satisfaction”, and so on, analyzing the media dependence of overseas 

users, international students, and the entire user group of Douyin. It can be concluded from the 

comparison that the number of studies on media dependence with Jitterbug as the target is small. 

Therefore, this paper focuses on the media dependence of international students on Jitterbug, which is 

more realistic and representative. 

The popularity of Douyin has provided a platform for overseas students to unleash their individuality, 

but it cannot be ignored that the development of short videos has also made international students 

gradually become “one-way people”, putting the cart before the horse and becoming doubly dependent 

on Douyin from their emotions to their behavior, gradually favoring big data in the choice between 

technical rationality and thinking rationality. In the choice between technical rationality and thinking 



www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/csm               Communication, Society and Media                Vol. 6, No. 3, 2023 

 

 
24 

Published by SCHOLINK INC. 

 

rationality, they gradually prefer the pleasure brought by big data, so that their own subjectivity is 

gradually controlled by the pleasure brought by Jitterbug, which makes international students lose the 

ability to think rationally, and gradually fall into the negative trap of media dependence when they are 

immersed in the sensory pleasure brought by Jitterbug, resulting in many negative effects. Therefore, 

this paper hopes to focus on the problem of media dependence of international students on Jitterbug, 

explore the deep-seated causes of media dependence among international students, and discuss and 

analyze them. Therefore, this paper hopes to focus on the problem of media dependence among young 

people, explore the deep-seated reasons for media dependence among young people, discuss and 

analyze them, and give fair suggestions. 

 

2. Literature Review 

Media dependence theory was developed by American communication scientists Melvin De The Media 

Dependency Theory was proposed by American communication scholars Melvin DeFler and Paul 

Rockich in 1976 in “The Dependency Model of Mass Communication Media Effects”. The theory is 

that audience, media and society are not isolated from each other, but are in an interdependent 

interaction. Mass communication, with the media as the main body, plays a role in the whole social 

system by continuously disseminating information to the outside world. It plays a role in the whole 

social system by continuously disseminating information to the outside world. In the study of media 

dependence, the dependence between individuals and media is an important area of research. In this 

regard, Devereux and Rockich suggest that because people have the purpose of “understanding”, 

“orientation”, and “entertainment”, the masses must rely on media communication. and 

“entertainment” purposes, the public must rely on the information disseminated by the media to satisfy 

their various needs and thus satisfy their purpose. If the medium is needed by individuals, the greater 

the degree of dependence and the more influence it has on them. The greater the influence on the 

individual. 

In 1973, the Japanese scholar Yujiro Hayashi proposed the concept of “television people” in 

“Information Society: The Transformation of Hardware Society to Software Society” and in 1980, the 

Japanese scholar Makoto Nakano proposed the concept of “container people” in “Information Behavior 

of Modern People”. In 1980, Japanese scholar Makoto Nakano proposed the concept of “container 

man” in “Information Behavior of Modern Man”. These two concepts are an exploration of the 

behavior and thinking of modern people, and in the era of highly developed communication media, 

people have become more and more dependent on the media and gradually made themselves closed 

individuals. In 1982, Stephen Reese pointed out that media dependence is a complex structure that 

involves the interaction of television news exposure, Internet exposure and media-dependent 

expression. In addition, it was hypothesized that media dependence enhances the positive relationship 



www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/csm               Communication, Society and Media                Vol. 6, No. 3, 2023 

 

 
25 

Published by SCHOLINK INC. 

 

between media exposure and political validity and activity, suggesting that people rely on the media to 

obtain political information. The quality of information disseminated by the media influences people’s 

perceptions of the outside world. In 1985, BALL-ROKEACH, S., and S., were the first scholars to 

develop a theory of media dependence. BALL-ROKEACH, S. J., in THE ORIGINS OF INDIVIDUAL 

MEDIA-SYSTEM DEPENDENCY: A Sociological Framework, analyzed the macro and micro 

determinants of media system dependence from a sociological framework, and suggested that the 

determinants of this framework include the structural relationship between the media structural 

dependencies between the media and other social systems, characteristics of the social environment, 

media system activities, interpersonal discourse networks, individuals’ 

In 2004, in “From ‘Media System Dependence’ to Communication Organism”, a review of the 

development of “media system dependence theory” and new concepts (by Borokic and Zheng Zhuyong) 

In “From Media System Dependency to Communication Organism” (by Borlokic and Zheng Zhuyong), 

we summarize what media dependency theory is, how it has developed, and its shortcomings, and 

propose that “communication organism” theory is the inheritance and development of “media 

dependency” theory in the era of globalization and new media, showing the interaction between media, 

individuals, communities, and even society. It shows the interaction between the media, individuals, 

communities, and society at all levels. Through this review, it can be seen that the research angle is 

mainly focused on two aspects: the discursive study of media dependence theory and the practical 

integration of media dependence theory. 

Understanding Media Dependence from the Level of Conceptual Sorting and Developmental Research: 

In “Relationship-Conflict-Integration-Three Dimensions of Understanding Media Dependence Theory”, 

Gong Xinqiong sorts out and identifies media dependence theory from the perspective of relationship 

theory, conflict theory, and structural-functional theory in turn. She points out that, from the perspective 

of relational theory, audiences rely on media for instrumental or utilitarian purposes, and also form two 

kinds of relationships: instrumental interests and ritual non-interests. In the perspective of conflict 

theory, there is a positive relationship between social conflict and media dependence. From the 

structural-functional theory, media system dependence theory maintains social integration from two 

aspects - the balance of relationship and the maintenance of structure. Through multiple dimensions, it 

is pointed out that the influence of the media is closely related to the dependence of the public, and 

therefore, the media should play its responsibility and advantage to allow individuals to have a better 

voice and society to develop in a more balanced way. 

In “Characteristics and Performance of Media Dependence”, Juxiang Feng concludes by sorting out the 

characteristics and performance of media dependence in various periods that with the progress and 

development of media, people rely more and more on obtaining information through media, and the 

degree of dependence is deepening. By comparing the relationship between audiences and the old and 



www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/csm               Communication, Society and Media                Vol. 6, No. 3, 2023 

 

 
26 

Published by SCHOLINK INC. 

 

new media, Wang Huai-chun contrasts that the dependence of individuals as subjects on the new media 

is gradually becoming tighter, which is manifested in the deepening degree of mental dependence and 

practical dependence. In addition to thisIn addition, there are many scholars who have taken a different 

approach to analyze media dependence from different cultural perspectives, which enhances the 

breadth and depth of research. In “The Media Dependence of Audiences in the Context of Social 

Networks - Based on the Perspective of Media Ecology”, Huang Juanjuan points out that the current 

understanding of the phenomenon of media dependence is rather one-sided, mainly focusing on two 

views: one is to criticize technology, and the other is to criticize audiences’ obsession with the use of 

media, ignoring the rational thinking of human beings. Therefore, she takes an alternative approach to 

examine the characteristics and development profile of media dependence theory from the perspective 

of media ecology, which contributes to the harmonious development of the media ecosystem. In 

“Exploring the Influencing Factors of Audience Media Dependence from the Perspective of Social 

Environment: Taking the Social Media ‘Zhihu’ as an Example”, Zhang Xi takes the perspective of 

social environment and takes “Zhihu” as a research vehicle to investigate the influence of media 

dependence. In this study, we use “Zhihu” as a research vehicle to investigate the influencing factors of 

media dependence, and point out that in the new media environment, the reasons for audience 

dependence on media are the interaction of various factors. Zhu Qinghe and Zhang Junhui’s “The 

Media Dependence of Grassroots Culture and Its Social Utility” provides a multidisciplinary 

perspective on the phenomenon of media dependence. Sun Li in “A Study of Social Media Dependence 

in the Perspective of Youth Subculture” points out that the emergence of media allows individuals to 

gain an identity and to quickly find groups in the same youth subculture as themselves to realize 

communication and gain a sense of belonging. As a result, youth groups are prone to the phenomenon 

of media dependence. In Nie Ying’s “Social Media Dependence in the Perspective of Media 

Environmentalism in “Social Media Dependence in Media Environmental Perspective”, Nie Ying 

analyzes why audiences are dependent on social media from a media environmental perspective. She 

also points out that the key to avoiding media dependence is to build a perfect media literacy education 

system, so that people can realize that the media is only a tool to support life, and should not control 

people’s The session also pointed out that the key to avoiding media dependence is to build a perfect 

media literacy education system, so that people can realize that media is actually a tool to assist life, 

and should not control people’s subjectivity. 

Empirical evidence on the applicability of media dependence in terms of data survey: In “An Empirical 

Study of Media Dependence Theory in the Internet Environment”, Xie Xinzhou conducted an empirical 

study on why audiences become media dependent through a questionnaire survey and concluded that: 

the amount of information disseminated by the mass media and the stability of the current social level 

affect the degree of media dependence, in other words, people tend to use the mass media to satisfy their 



www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/csm               Communication, Society and Media                Vol. 6, No. 3, 2023 

 

 
27 

Published by SCHOLINK INC. 

 

needs for information and have high expectations of the media. In other words, people tend to use the 

mass media to satisfy their needs for information and have high expectations of the media, thus 

determining the degree of dependence of the audience on the media, while people tend to use the media 

for psychological stability, such as entertainment and leisure, if the society is in turmoil and they have 

strong instability. In “The Psychology and Behavior of Smartphone Use from the Perspective of Media 

Dependency Theory—A Comparative Study of Mobile Phone Use between Chinese and Singaporean 

College Students”, Sally Jiang, Hao Xiaoming and Lin Chuijin conducted a comparison and study of 

Chinese and Singaporean college students from the perspective of media dependency theory by using 

questionnaire survey method and focus group interview method, and came to the conclusion that The 

study concluded that all college students who use cell phones basically have a certain degree of 

dependence phenomenon, which is manifested in the use of cell phones from time to time and the 

anxiety brought by excessive dependence on cell phones. In “Adoption, Exposure and Dependence: A 

Study of College Students’ WeChat Usage Behavior and Its Influencing Factors”, Lingning Wang 

investigated the frequency and length of WeChat use by a quota sample of college students in Songjiang 

University City, Shanghai, and concluded that the higher the audience’s desire to use WeChat to satisfy 

their needs, the deeper the dependence would be. In addition, some scholars believe that the degree of 

audience reliance on media can positively verify the credibility of media. In “An Empirical Study of 

Media Credibility—A Large Sample Survey Based on Provincial Residents”, Wu Jian points out that 

audiences often use the media with the need to send their emotions, so the media dependence on the 

media can make the evaluation of the media more objective and realistic. 

In “A Study on Social Media Dependence and Media Needs of College Students’ Microblog 

Dependence”, Liu Zhensheng found through quantitative survey that social media dependence is a 

common phenomenon among college students, and the reasons for media dependence are many, ranging 

from the individual audience’s initiative to find media to meet their information needs to the audience’s 

The reasons for media dependence are multifaceted. It reflects the complexity of the causes of media 

dependence. Zhao Hongxun, in “The ‘Faith Risk’ of Youth Groups in the Perspective of New Media 

Dependence”, says that the emergence of new media has given youth an emotional “vent” on the one 

hand, but there is also a “mediatisation” of faith and emotional indifference. “This is contrary to the 

expectations of youth at the national level. Yu Min-sheng explains the various mechanisms of media 

dependence in the media ecosystem, and conducts an empirical study on the phenomenon of media 

dependence among youth. An Empirical Study of Contemporary Youth Mobile Phone Use and 

Satisfaction” by Minjie He, “An Empirical Study of Media Dependence Theory in the Mobile Phone 

Media Environment: A Quantitative Analysis of Youth Mobile Phone Dependence” by Jie Kuang, 

“Adolescents-New Media Dependence-Pathological Psychology Analysis” by Ting Zhao, and “The New 

Media Dependence of Youth” by Zhen Liu. The phenomenon of youth media dependence has been 



www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/csm               Communication, Society and Media                Vol. 6, No. 3, 2023 

 

 
28 

Published by SCHOLINK INC. 

 

studied and sorted out in the articles such as “Social Media Dependence and Media Demand 

Research—Taking Youth Microblog Dependence as an Example” by Liu Zhensheng. Through the 

literature, it can be seen that the research on the phenomenon of media dependence has been fruitful and 

the research objects are also diverse. However, in the literature search, I found that the literature on the 

phenomenon of media dependence among international students with Douyin as the main object is still 

limited. Therefore, this paper selects “Malaysian Chinese students’ dependence on Douyin “as the 

research object, in order to make a meaningful exploration in this direction. 

 

3. Method 

3.1 Questionnaire Method 

In order to ensure the accuracy and verifiability of the study, a total of 560 questionnaires were 

distributed by a combination of online and offline methods, and only the Malaysian students who use 

Jitterbug were analyzed. The questionnaires were mainly distributed online through the 

channel—Questionnaire Star, while relying on other social media channels—WeChat, Zhihu, 

Xiaohongshu, Weibo etc., to find suitable international students to fill in the questionnaires through 

posting. The offline questionnaires were mainly collected in schools, communities and libraries to ensure 

that the range of the collected data users was 16-35 years old and their identities were diverse. Excluding 

29 questionnaires for those aged less than 16 and more than 35, the total number of valid questionnaires 

was 531. Therefore, the 531 questionnaires collected from international students are the sample of this 

study. The 531 questionnaires collected from the youth group were used as the sample for analysis. 

3.2 In-depth Interview Method 

In order to understand more deeply how Jitterbug influences young people and makes them dependent 

on the medium, this paper conducted in-depth interviews with 10 Douyin users, two of whom were 

repeatedly fluctuating between uninstallation and installation, and eight of whom were still using it, so 

that the interviews could reflect the psychology of international students more comprehensively and 

complement the questionnaire survey. 

Therefore, the core questions of this paper are as follows: First, does the theory of media dependence 

still play a role in the era of rapid development of new media? Second, we analyze the current situation 

of Douyin dependency among young people and explore the general characteristics of media 

dependency among young people; third, we describe the current situation and performance of 

dependency among young people and analyze what negative effects Douyin has brought to the audience 

while bringing positive values; fourth, we suggest how to guide young people to use Douyin rationally 

and cultivate and improve their media literacy. According to the previous discussion, the number of 

literature focusing on the media dependence of international students aged 16-35 is relatively small. 

Therefore, this paper differs from other studies in the selection of research subjects, and Douyin is the 



www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/csm               Communication, Society and Media                Vol. 6, No. 3, 2023 

 

 
29 

Published by SCHOLINK INC. 

 

most popular short-video social network. As the most popular short-video social media nowadays, 

Douyin is very popular among young people, and the phenomenon of media dependence is also the most 

prominent. Therefore, this paper is more representative and relevant to study the media dependence of 

young people on Douyin. 

 

4. Findings and Discussions 

4.1 Findings for RQ1 

Why does the overseas student community develop media dependence on social media like Douyin, 

and what is the reality of their media dependence on Douyin presented. 

Short videos are different from the long videos we used to contact, it is very short, within a few minutes 

or even a dozen seconds to show the complete content, and we can also share the wonderful video 

through WeChat, microblogging and other media for real-time dissemination. The popular short video 

software today are Douyin, Racer, Watermelon video and so on. As the most popular short video social 

media, Douyin mainly creates, publishes and disseminates short videos with a duration of 15 seconds 

or 60 seconds, aiming to let users discover the beauty of life through Douyin short videos. Douyin was 

officially launched to the society on September 20, 2016, on Douyin, each user breaks through the 

boundary between the transmitter and the receiver, and can create short video works at any time as a 

transmitter, and also receive the works created by the majority of users as a receiver for comments. As 

long as you want to express and record, you can become a video “creator”. For example, ordinary users 

can also show off their skills on the Douyin platform and create content freely, which greatly increases 

the enthusiasm and loyalty of users. As Douyin continues to develop, the trend of content production is 

gradually changing from UGC to PGC and OGC. 

Douyin is the most popular short-form video social media among young people nowadays, and the 

researcher chose it as the research object largely because Douyin is highly compatible with the topic of 

this paper. The specific reasons are as follows: large user base: as of August 2022, Douyin has 600 

million active users per day, and the daily search frequency for videos has reached 400 million, with a 

monthly active audience of over 550 million. According to 2022, the popular short video flat data 

statistics, about 45.2 percentage points of short video users Douyin high frequency use rate, about 17.9 

percentage points of users Racer high frequency of use, Beili Beili use rate in third place, accounting 

for 13%, watermelon video and Weishi user use rate of 4.3% and 4%, respectively. Although Racer and 

Douyin are two of the most popular short-form video social media among young people today, Douyin 

has the highest user base and the highest usage rate among all short-form video social media. 

According to the “2022 China Short Video Industry Market Size and User Profile Analysis”, the age of 

the audience using short video is 28.5 percentage points below 24 years old, 24.9 percentage points 

between 25 and 30 years old, and 26.4 percentage points between 31 and 35 years old. Through 



www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/csm               Communication, Society and Media                Vol. 6, No. 3, 2023 

 

 
30 

Published by SCHOLINK INC. 

 

statistics, we can draw a more accurate conclusion that people under the age of 35 are the main viewers 

of short videos. According to Douyin’s short video user portrait, by July 2019, 70% of the audience 

aged below 35 years old and 19-30 years old account for a large proportion, which basically coincides 

with the proportion of short video users, according to Douyin’s portrait of the population in high and 

low tier cities, above 19 According to Douyin’s high and low tier city population profile, users above 

19 years old and below 30 years old use Douyin for a long time (in high tier cities), while users above 

19 years old and below 35 years old use Shake for a long time. Users who are older than 19 and 

younger than 35 use Douyin for a longer period of time (in lower tier cities). Therefore, it is feasible 

and representative to use Douyin as the research object in combination with the age group of 16-35 

years old in this paper. 

According to the survey results, 40.18% of international students use Douyin 0-3 times a day, 26.61% 

use it 4-6 times, 13.39% use it 7-9 times and 19.82% use it more than 10 times. The statistics show that 

59.82% of international students use Douyin more than 4 times a day, which shows that most people 

pay more attention to the control of time, but basically use it every day, and the stickiness of Douyin 

short video is greater. The researcher also found in the survey that the highest percentage of 

international students use Douyin for 35-60 minutes at a time, 38.21%, followed by less than half an 

hour. Because Douyin is designed to capture the audience’s instant attention, the content is very short 

but thematic, trying to catch the eyes of international students in the shortest time. Therefore, the length 

of Douyin is usually between 15 seconds and 5 minutes, which is fast-paced and in line with the 

fragmented viewing habits of international students. Among them, 16.43% of the users use it for 1-2 

hours each time, and 10% use it for more than 2 hours each time, so it can be seen that 26.43% of 

international students watch it for a long time and use it intensely. Through the statistics of usage time 

and frequency, we can see that the surveyed international students are more viscous to Douyin and 

basically use it every day, so it can be seen that high frequency and long time “brushing Douyin” is 

already the daily routine of international students. 

In order to understand more about the usage of international students, the researcher interviewed 

several representative users. The interviews were conducted with several representative users. 

Researcher: Do you use Douyin every day and about how many times do you turn it on? What time of 

day do you use it? 

Interviewer A (male, 18 years old, freshman): I use Douyin every day, it has become a habit, about 5 

times, I will brush it for 20 minutes when I wake up in the morning to wake up, 15 minutes before lunch 

and nap, I like to brush the video while eating at dinner, I like to open it again before going to bed at 

night, because there is nothing else to do at night, it is purely my leisure time, I usually brush it longer, 

about 2 hours. I usually brush longer, about 2 hours. 

Interviewer C (female, 20 years old, sophomore in college): About seven or eight times a day, about ten 



www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/csm               Communication, Society and Media                Vol. 6, No. 3, 2023 

 

 
31 

Published by SCHOLINK INC. 

 

minutes each time, usually when I am tired of studying, I will open it for a while to relax, and at night, I 

may brush it all night long, because I do not sleep well, often insomnia, and do not want to get up to 

read, only through the brush Douyin relief, when sleepy again. 

Interviewer E (female, 25 years old, first year of PhD): I brush about seven or eight times, for about 

ten minutes when I get up in the morning to wash up, for a while during the lunch line, and for about 

an hour before I go to bed at night. 

Interviewer F (female, 28 years old, third year doctoral student): As a doctoral student who is about to 

graduate, I usually turn on Douyin during my children’s naptime and bedtime and brush it for about 

half an hour to an hour each time, and in the morning if my children are still awake, I also brush it for 

a while. 

Interviewer G (male, 32 years old, post-doc): I am a heavy Douyin user, I spend about one third of my 

day on Douyin, I usually wake up at five in the morning and open Douyin to brush videos, watch 

basketball and other sports content. In the morning, I usually wake up at 5:00 a.m. and turn on 

Jitterbug to watch videos and sports content like basketball, and spend almost an hour on naps, so I 

don’t get enough sleep every time. 

Through the interviews, it can be concluded that most of the international students’ daily life has been 

closely connected with Douyin, no matter how busy they are in a day, they will open it for a while in 

their free time, and in the words of the interviewees, it has become a habit, so the use of Douyin has 

become a habit for some international students, and once it has become a habit, it is naturally difficult 

to quit. In addition, the respondents tend to open Douyin before going to bed or when they have free 

time, so that they can use every “Douyin time” efficiently. Combining the interview results with the 

questionnaire data, we can draw a preliminary conclusion: a significant proportion of international 

students spend a lot of time on Douyin short videos every day. 

According to the questionnaire survey, the top three categories are entertainment and funny, food and 

travel, and life skills, with 71.07%, 56.61%, and 52.86% respectively, followed by knowledge and 

learning, among which the percentage of those who like to watch entertainment and funny videos is 

much higher than other content categories. Douyin replaces the traditional single text mode or 

stereotypical picture form with cool video effects, unbearable burdens and exaggeratedly funny 

language actions, which can easily make international students empathize and achieve the feeling of 

being there, thus making them spend time and energy in browsing and watching. The youth group likes 

to open ShakeYin for viewing. According to the questionnaire, international students like to open 

Douyin to watch and browse, it must meet their certain needs. Among them, the largest number of 

people choose to spend their free time, accounting for nearly 80%, so we can know that Douyin has 

been deeply embedded in the free time of most international students. 

 



www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/csm               Communication, Society and Media                Vol. 6, No. 3, 2023 

 

 
32 

Published by SCHOLINK INC. 

 

In the in-depth interviews with several international student users, when asked why they like to use 

Douyin, i.e., what kinds of needs, several interviewees had basically the same needs. 

Interviewer A (male, 18 years old, freshman): I am tired and drained from studying, my brain is 

already very tired, so I like to brush the Douyin when I have free time. I like to brush Douyin in my free 

time to relieve myself, especially at night when I can’t sleep. I like to brush it for half a day to fill the 

time when I can’t sleep, and then browse Weibo. 

Interviewer E (female, 25 years old, second year of master’s degree): Usually life is three points one 

line, except for work is home to stay, life is very boring, but when I go home and have a lot of free time, 

I don’t want to study or do anything else, after all, I am very tired after a day of work, I just want to 

brush something easy and entertaining, so Douyin has become one of the necessary software to pass 

my free time. 

Interviewer H (Male, 32 years old, 2nd year PhD): Every day, besides work and family, there are only 

three free periods before I wake up early, before I take a nap and before I go to bed at night, and it is a 

rare time for me to open Douyin and watch my favorite videos. 

Interviewer F (female, 28 years old, third year of graduate school): My life is actually quite boring and 

monotonous, in addition to taking care of the children, there are no social activities usually, so in my 

free time, I like to brush the Douyin, watch some funny videos, and feel better. The mood is better. 

The remaining few respondents, when asked why they liked Douyin, basically also answered that they 

used Douyin to fill in the odd hours and pass their free time. This is basically consistent with the 

questionnaire choices. From this, we can conclude that Douyin has become inseparable from the daily 

life of international students, and the use of Douyin has become an extremely common phenomenon for 

both undergraduate and graduate students, as well as doctoral students. For these undergraduates, 

Douyin can relieve the pressure brought by the boring and stressful studies and give the students a brief 

space to relax; for senior students, Douyin can make the daily monotonous life a little interesting and 

relieve the mental pressure brought by the heavy burden of research; for international students with 

children, Douyin can break the closed state of information connection and connect with the outside 

world, which can also give them a brief mental break. For full-time mothers, ShakeYin can break the 

closed information connection and connect with the outside world, which can also provide a short 

period of mental relaxation and soothe the mood. 

The key to Douyin’s ability to grasp the psychology of international students so accurately comes from 

the strong technical support of its company, ByteDance. Through the use of big data and accurate 

algorithmic pushing, international students have changed from a “vague group” to an accurate portrait 

of thousands of people, and the content is continuously pushed according to their preferences, so that 

over time, international students are unable to extricate themselves from the data algorithm created by 

Douyin and their dependence gradually deepens. Specifically, the current situation of international 



www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/csm               Communication, Society and Media                Vol. 6, No. 3, 2023 

 

 
33 

Published by SCHOLINK INC. 

 

students’ media dependence on Douyin is mainly manifested in the following aspects: 

(1) Time consuming 

On the question of whether the time spent on Douyin is excessive, international students may be in a 

state of confusion as the person concerned and cannot give a relatively rational answer, so the question 

was set to whether they spend too much time on Douyin from the perspective of people around them, 

which is more convincing. 38.04% of the group could not give a relatively definite answer, and 27.14% 

of the international students were not considered by the people around them to spend too much time on 

Douyin use. Overall, a significant percentage of international students have spent too much time using 

Douyin. 

(2) Difficult to control the time of use 

So which behaviors of international students are manifestations of dependency? The specific 

manifestation is that they open Douyin from time to time or find it hard to stop once they open it, and 

psychologically they have expectations for the content and private messages they follow on Douyin, 

resulting in a psychological immersion effect. In the answer of “difficult to control the time of use”, 

47.93% of the respondents said that they could not control the time of Douyin, and it is often difficult 

to stop once they open it. At this time, international students are more like being confined in the 

“invisible circle”, losing the ability to think and judge in the passage of time. In the survey, only 20% 

of the respondents were able to control their logging time, and a large number of international students 

are becoming more and more dependent on Douyin. Whether it is Douyin or other short video 

platforms, the longest time is only ten minutes, the short one is less than one minute, and most of the 

videos are less than five minutes, which makes the time short and the content novel and interesting, 

catering to the fragmented viewing habits and fast-paced lifestyle of international students nowadays, 

so it gives international students the illusion that it won’t take too much time to brush short videos, and 

they think that it won’t take much time to brush a few more short videos. However, when opening 

Douyin, international students, who are easily attracted by novelty, will gradually be attracted by 

countless short videos that are constantly updated, and the continuous packages and brilliant special 

effects make them extremely interested, especially Douyin uses algorithms to constantly push new 

content that international students like, so that they are immersed in their personal preferences and 

forget about time. A strong psychological dependence was created, and after coming back to the mind, 

it had seriously exceeded the original The time originally expected. 

4.2 Findings for RQ2 

What factors are related to the specific analysis of the international student group’s dependence on the 

media of Douyin? Is it the emotional and psychological satisfaction of the individual, the filling of 

cognitive gaps, or the technological, convenient and virtual qualities of the medium? 

 



www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/csm               Communication, Society and Media                Vol. 6, No. 3, 2023 

 

 
34 

Published by SCHOLINK INC. 

 

4.2.1 Subject demand 

4.2.1.1 Emotional needs: to pass their free time and enjoy their bodies and minds 

When international students were asked why they like to brush Douyin in questionnaires or in-depth 

interviews, many of them would say “boredom and idleness” as their first response. Indeed, most of the 

international students are tired of doing anything brain-intensive and mental after a day of study, so 

they will choose to use some software to pass their free time, and the short videos of Douyin with a few 

tens of seconds are rich in content and dynamic music, and each video is a wonderful climax that can’t 

be stopped, which greatly relieves the boredom brought by free time. 

Interviewer C (female, 20 years old, freshman): Because I really have nothing to do except my daily 

study, and Douyin, like funny, drama series, these contents are what I usually like to watch, but also 

can kill my free time, solve my boredom, used for recreation. 

Interviewer K (Male, 35 years old, 3rd year PhD): In the end, Douyin is for the entertainment of young 

people, you think how much pressure young people are under now, working every day “996”, studying 

every day exam competition, the spirit of collapse is too tight, but the video on Douyin is very exciting, 

very entertaining, watch that You can relieve the boredom and boredom. Moreover, usually you and 

friends chatting does not take time, a few minutes which can chat, and also have to think back, too 

Trouble, these minutes to brush the fun video does not smell good? 

In Group Loneliness, Shirley Turkel points out that the development of technology, while bringing 

convenience to people, has also made interpersonal relationships more fragile. In the era of highly 

developed media technology, international students, just like the lonely individuals in the book, hate 

being bound by intimate relationships and choose more often to present themselves, express their ideas, 

relieve their loneliness and relieve their boredom on Douyin. With the support of technology, the 

content on Douyin is diverse and distinctive, such as strange news, cute pet records, fashion matching, 

travel tips, talk shows etc. International students can browse a lot of interesting contents in a very short 

time, which greatly relieves the tedium brought by the dull life and makes them empathize and satisfy 

themselves in the rich video contents, and their free time is utilized and their physical and mental brains 

are pleased. The use of free time and the pleasure of the body and mind, thus, the dependence of 

international students on Douyin is increasing. As a result, young people are increasingly dependent on 

Jitterbug. 

4.2.1.2 Spiritual needs: relieve stress and relax the spirit 

From the questionnaire, we can see that 50.75% of international students are relaxed and anxiety-free 

when they brush Douyin. Nowadays, there is a general anxiety in the society, which adds to the 

pressure of international students, such as the pressure of higher education exams and the pressure of 

the “996” burden at work. Douyin’s innate qualities of leisure and entertainment can undoubtedly 

relieve the anxiety of international students to a certain extent, forgetting the reality of anxiety for a 



www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/csm               Communication, Society and Media                Vol. 6, No. 3, 2023 

 

 
35 

Published by SCHOLINK INC. 

 

while. It is easy for international students to soothe their tense brains through this quick and convenient 

entertainment and get a short period of relaxation through this quick and convenient entertainment. 

Interviewer I (female, 33 years old, second year of PhD): There are a lot of things that bother me in 

real life, I want to find a better job, get a more comfortable life, and also want to get into the civil 

service, these thoughts are weighing me down, so I get very anxious, so I usually like to watch Douyin, 

the life in it is wonderful and interesting, when I watch Douyin When I watch Shakyam, I don’t have 

anxiety, I don’t have worries, I’m happy when I watch it. 

Interviewer K (Male, 35 years old, 3rd year PhD): I personally love to travel, but due to the nature of 

my studies, I have to attend classes every day, and writing papers on weekends is the norm, but inside I 

really long for the blue sky and white clouds of the outside world, so when I finish my studies for the 

day, I go home and watch some travel bloggers that Douyin follows. I feel as if I’m on a long journey 

watching their videos, and I have a kind of empathy for them, which to some extent relieves my work 

pressure and makes me feel relaxed. The whole person is relaxed and at ease. 

4.2.1.3 Social needs: maintaining relationships to expand social interaction 

Interviewer B (female, 18 years old, freshman year):Usually use Douyin in addition to like to look at 

the face of the beautiful and handsome men, the most important point is that we know friends often 

through Douyin private messages, share video, so often use Douyin. 

Interviewer G (Male, 30 years old, 1st year PhD): I love to watch food, so I consciously search for 

relevant food videos every time I’m in Douyin, especially the KL local ones, which are easier to hit, so 

whenever I see a food video with attractive colors and flavors, I send it to several friends who also like 

food to see if they are interested in going to explore the restaurants together, so we have formed an 

unbreakable food squad relationship. 

Through the interviews we can see that partners who share the same interests strengthen their social 

connections through the use of Douyin. In addition, according to the questionnaire, more than 55% of 

international students, their close family or friends are loyal users of Douyin, that means many users 

often communicate with each other daily through Douyin and maintain the relationship. This shows 

that Douyin short videos have become an important social tool in modern people’s daily life, and most 

of our family and friends around us have become enthusiasts who use Douyin. Very often, when we 

brush Douyin, if we see an interesting video, we will forward it to a friend with similar interests and 

expect her approval and liking of the video content. When a friend sends a private message, we will 

also quickly click on Douyin to communicate, becoming the second chatting place other than WeChat 

and maintaining the acquaintance social. When we brush Douyin short videos, when we encounter 

content that we like, we will turn to comment on it, and in the comments, we can also see the 

comments of the audience with the same interests as ourselves, which will create a sense of 

compatibility in our hearts, and two people can share and communicate with each other in private 



www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/csm               Communication, Society and Media                Vol. 6, No. 3, 2023 

 

 
36 

Published by SCHOLINK INC. 

 

messages, slowly developing from online “shake friends” to offline friends, expanding the social circle. 

Moreover, the interesting thing about Douyin is that the videos recommended by Douyin can be friends 

of friends of friends, colleagues of colleagues of colleagues, relatives of relatives of relatives, people 

who look familiar but do not have any contact information, as long as they are related to any person in 

your address book and use Douyin, which also invariably expands the scope of social interaction. 

4.2.1.4 Learning needs: acquire knowledge to enhance skills 

According to the questionnaire, more than 51% of international students consider Douyin as a learning 

channel for learning knowledge and gaining skills input, and the rich content of Douyin short videos, 

such as beauty, fitness, travel, food, and health care videos, makes people dazzled. Douyin platform as 

a channel to learn knowledge and skills, so as to grow in knowledge and acquire the skills you want to 

learn. No matter what problems you don’t know in your daily work or study life, you can easily get the 

solution by searching through Douyin. 

Interviewer D (male, 23, first year graduate student): When I watch Douyin, I see many people who 

are positive and optimistic despite their disabilities, so I can learn from other people’s positive and 

optimistic attitude towards life. Also, I learned video editing from Douyin. 

Interviewer F (female, 28 years old, third year graduate student): I usually watch Douyin mainly to see 

how to make supplementary food for babies. Because I don’t know much about these things, like how to 

nutritionally match more appropriate, what is better for a one-year-old baby to eat, will have I’ve 

learned a lot from the videos shared by many moms. 

Interviewer K (male, 35 years old, post-doc): Every time I open Douyin, I feel a sense of urgency. 

because there are so many good and self-disciplined people in it, so I often remind myself, “You can do 

these things!” “You should learn a new skill too”, and always keep a drive to learn. 

To a certain extent, Douyin has replaced Baidu’s search status in the hearts of many young people. 

“Douyin” is becoming the first choice of young people. Through Douyin search, users can see the 

search results more intuitively in the form of short videos, which fully enhances the sensory experience 

of young people. For example, if you want to learn about video editing, a fun and interesting 

explanatory video will definitely attract young people’s attention more easily than a boring graphic 

image. We can see it even more everywhere around us. When many international students come across 

a problem, they will first open Douyin to search and find the answer to the question, which is efficient 

and convenient. In the use of Douyin, we fully see that technology, if used properly, can bring a good 

user experience to international students and grow their skills and knowledge. This is one of the reasons 

why international students rely on Douyin. 

4.2.2 Object causes 

The above article analyzes the various reasons for international students’ dependence on Douyin, both 

practical and psychological factors. But from the external reasons, the increase of Douyin’s influence 



www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/csm               Communication, Society and Media                Vol. 6, No. 3, 2023 

 

 
37 

Published by SCHOLINK INC. 

 

and the accurate big data technology are the keys to make international students spend a lot of time 

using it. 

4.2.2.1 Douyin influence boosts catalytic dependence 

With the support of big data technology, Douyin accurately grasps the portrait of international students 

and has a clear judgment of their preferences, and then pushes a large number of videos with similar 

preferences in Douyin videos, so that international students are immersed in the videos and cannot 

extricate themselves from them, and are constantly attracted by the impactful contents in Douyin, and 

their senses are delighted.The questionnaire shows that 51% of international students already open it 

from time to time in their daily use and a lot of time is taken up.  

Interviewer A (male, 18 years old, freshman year): Because the length of short videos can make people 

feel like they can’t stop, and they can’t help but want to watch the next one, forming a cycle, older 

people are estimated to have a little more self-control, but for young people it is more difficult. 

Interviewer F (female, 28 years old, first year PhD): Douyin’s “15 Seconds” is short, with a clear 

theme and constant baggage. It’s short, with a clear theme and a lot of baggage. It’s a few dozen 

seconds of browsing without any extra pressure, and Most of the videos are funny. 

The 15-second video length is a characteristic of Douyin videos, and this length has its own design 

principle. Psychology points out that the 15-second time period is more capable of focusing people’s 

attention, and a longer time will be much less attractive to users. Therefore, the 15-second design 

allows international students to see the climax of the video directly and form a deeper impression, so 

that they can brush Douyin during the fragment time, or even the time originally used for work and 

study. This is the result of their dependence. The video is short but wonderful, the music is dynamic 

and eye-catching, the special effects are exciting and dynamic, through various exquisite and cool 

effects, the video climaxes repeatedly, so that international students can’t stop and get a great sense of 

satisfaction. It’s like “unpacking the blind box”, with a short video with a clear theme, which has a 

strong attraction for international students. In Douyin, the support of algorithm allows every young 

person with distinctive personality to find the content they are interested in, such as skills, food, drama 

etc. The style is diversified, which meets the various needs of international students and creates 

dependency over time. 

4.2.2.2 Cultural dimension: Youth subculture becomes the cause orientation 

It is created by international students through various communication channels and methods, which is 

different from the mainstream culture nowadays. As the main force of the subculture, international 

students have distinctive characteristics different from other groups: when they study in school, they 

face the rising pressure of further education; when they enter the society and work, they face the burden 

of “996” and the pressure of life of raising children. The virtual and hidden nature of the Douyin 

platform and the convenience of smooth expression fit the demands of the subculture group, and the 



www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/csm               Communication, Society and Media                Vol. 6, No. 3, 2023 

 

 
38 

Published by SCHOLINK INC. 

 

international student group uses Douyin to create subcultures, such as using emoji packs to make fun 

and jokes, “funeral culture” and “Buddhist culture”. “International students use these subcultural 

expressions to boldly express themselves, highlight their personalities, reconstruct their identities and 

get self-satisfaction. To a certain extent, it has intensified the dependence of international students on 

Douyin. 

4.2.2.3 Social dimension: Landscape society to create virtual reality 

In 1967, French scholar Guy Debord introduced the concept of “landscape” in his important book 

“Landscape Society”, which can be understood in the context of reality as a virtual image presented by 

the media that is replacing the real reality and becoming the basis for understanding real life. 

In the context of reality, we can understand the concept of “landscape” to mean that the virtual images 

presented by the media are replacing the real reality and becoming the basis for people’s understanding 

of real life. The emergence of the landscape makes people lose their ability to think and confuse the 

real world with the virtual world. Through the perspective of landscape society, it is possible to 

interpret the current phenomenon of Douyin media dependence of international students, who create a 

landscape different from reality through a large number of virtual images, in which international 

students enjoy themselves with entertainment and indulge in the feast of landscape shaped by Douyin. 

As in real life, you can see young people who brush Douyin with their heads down everywhere, they 

spend a lot of time immersed in the virtual landscape shaped by Douyin, reveling in the wonderful 

world inside, and the virtual images replace the interpersonal communication in reality, being the views 

in the landscape. Ideas, lifestyles and values are assimilated, making international students addicted 

without realizing it and creating psychological and behavioral dependence. 

The reasons for the dependence of international students on Douyin are multifaceted, ranging from the 

users’ own psychological cravings and satisfaction of role-playing to the attractiveness of the medium. 

International students are increasingly dependent on the use of Douyin, thus creating a double 

dependence in terms of psychology and behavior. 

4.3 Findings for RQ3 

What are the negative effects of international students’ dependence on Douyin from the subjective and 

interpersonal social levels? Does the addiction to the virtual world eventually lead to the alienation of 

subjectivity and interpersonal socialization? 

4.3.1 Alienation of the subject itself 

First is the increased fragmentation of time, Douyin squeezed the integrity of life. Douyin short videos 

are within a few dozen seconds in length, which is ideal for young people to watch in fragmented time, 

so the The advantage of this is that you can briefly relax your tired brain, but the obvious disadvantage 

is that many people’s self-control is limited. In the frequent dependence, often in the process of 

watching forget the time, wanted to watch a few small videos, but repeatedly not controlled by the 



www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/csm               Communication, Society and Media                Vol. 6, No. 3, 2023 

 

 
39 

Published by SCHOLINK INC. 

 

brain, immersed in the video playback can not extricate themselves. By the time you wake up, the time 

has been severely oversubscribed and regretted. 

Interviewer E (female, 25, first year graduate student): Every time I brush Douyin, I actually want to 

brush it for 10 minutes to relax, but wow, I can’t stop once I brush it. But wow, once you brush it, you 

can’t stop, there are too many interesting ones, and every time you finally make up your mind to quit, 

you find that it’s already midnight. When I finally decided to quit, I found that it was already the middle 

of the night! 

Interviewer F (female, 28 years old, first year PhD): When I take a break from watching the kids, I 

open Douyin and relax for ten minutes, but often by the time I finish swiping the video, an hour may 

have passed. This time How good it would be to use it for rest, and how much better it would be. 

Interviewer G (male, 30 years old, postdoctoral): I am an ordinary person who brushes and brushes, 

and like many people like many people, thinking that only ten minutes have passed, only to find that an 

hour has passed, and what makes it even harder for myself is that The next time, the next night, 

knowing that this is still the case. The next time, the next night, the same thing happens. The feeling of 

remorse and emptiness repeatedly fills my heart. 

According to the interviews, we can see that the time that international students originally used for 

work and study has been drastically squeezed. The integrity of life is cut off, and the plans that had 

been made are forgotten in the excessive use of Douyin, so that after a short period of happiness, 

international students become more anxious and restless because of the large amount of time that has 

passed, and only when they look back do they realize that they have not actually gained anything 

substantial during the time they were immersed in Douyin, but their precious time The time has already 

passed. 

Secondly, it erodes the rational thinking of the audience and leads to the alienation of values. The 

wonderful and interesting videos in Douyin are new and all-inclusive, and in the midst of watching 

them, international students are easily assimilated by the values and ways of thinking on Douyin. Often, 

the images shown in the videos on Douyin, after being received by the brains of international students, 

will subconsciously think that this is a common situation around us, and we will understand the real 

world according to the video, which may cause bias in our thinking. Moreover, when over-relying on 

Douyin, from psychological to behavioral view of Douyin as a spiritual support for study, life and work, 

there is a possibility that they will be the content of Jitterbug is so mixed that the rational thinking is 

affected without knowing it. For example, in the minds of many young people for the value of thin is 

this: not eating means self-discipline, fat is not qualified to eat, girls should only be thin and 

good-looking, their weight can not control the people are losers, is a loser. Obviously, if international 

students rely too much on Douyin, they are likely to be confused by the bad values spread by the mixed 

content and lose the ability to judge right and wrong in the “mimetic environment” shaped by Douyin. 



www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/csm               Communication, Society and Media                Vol. 6, No. 3, 2023 

 

 
40 

Published by SCHOLINK INC. 

 

For example, the “Buddhist” and “mourning culture”, which were popular on Douyin, promote no 

desire, no need, no fight, no rush, and many young people interpret them as retreating from difficulties 

and not caring about the development of things. In fact, such values encourage young people to avoid 

pressure and difficulties and stay in the “comfort zone” created by Douyin. In the “comfort zone” 

created by Jitterbug, they choose to “lie flat” at an age when they should be struggling, and call it 

“Buddhism”. 

Finally, Douyin can lead to distraction and loss of self-control. douyin brings mental pleasure and 

pleasure to international students within a few tens of seconds, immersing the brain in the content 

without using any thinking and memory skills, the pleasure is simple and low-cost to obtain, therefore, 

in the bus or subway, the road, you can see the youth with their heads down to brush the video 

everywhere. However, this high-frequency use will intensify the dependence of the youth group on 

Douyin, such as whether at work or in study, as long as the phone is around, you can not help but open 

a look at Douyin, “brush a brush” has become the norm, attention is difficult to focus on one thing, 

concentration can not be improved, in With the flood of information in Douyin, young people will 

gradually lose the ability to think deeply and become immersed in the fragmented video content. 

4.3.2 Douyin media dependence on the alienation of interpersonal relationships 

“Alienation” refers to the reversal of the subject-object relationship. The subject usually occupies the 

dominant position and has a certain initiative, while the object is usually subordinate to the subject and 

comes from the subject. However, after the alienation process, the subject and the object become the 

object and become the bound and dominated party, and fall into a state of servitude, while the object 

becomes the power to suppress the subject and control the subject, occupying the active party. Social 

media, which is supposed to serve as a platform to meet the information needs of the audience, has 

instead become a controlling force that enslaves human subjectivity, constantly alienating people, while 

people as subjects are lost in the virtual world provided by Douyin, surrounded by transient satisfaction. 

They are increasingly dependent on the convenience provided by the medium. In the survey, 45.89% of 

the international students clearly said that Douyin has significantly taken away the opportunity for 

family or friends to communicate with each other, while only 24% of the respondents said that their 

interpersonal relationship was not affected. From the comprehensive data, the dependence of 

international students on Douyin has seriously squeezed the communication between interpersonal 

relationships. The mobile social media seems to be a controlling force, alienating the personal 

perceptions of international students, and losing their subjectivity in a subtle way. McLuhan expressed 

a similar concept in his book “Understanding Media”: “Human beings as creators shape their tools into 

a society. Human beings as creators have shaped the tools, but in turn, the tools have shaped us in a 

perverse way. The subconscious and meek acceptance of the effects of the new media makes it a 

“prison without walls” for the youth population. The new media has become a “prison without walls”. 



www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/csm               Communication, Society and Media                Vol. 6, No. 3, 2023 

 

 
41 

Published by SCHOLINK INC. 

 

The first manifests itself in the indifference of interpersonal communication. The dependence on the 

media makes the interpersonal communication among international students gradually indifferent. 

When they use Douyin online, they talk about the world, but offline, they face the awkward situation of 

staring at each other, and most of them choose to brush their heads on Douyin or watch other media 

platforms to pass the time. In various gatherings, we can see this phenomenon everywhere: people 

brush Douyin with their heads down, and only occasionally raise their heads in between serving food, 

carefully select filters with Douyin, take photos or small videos of food, and then put their heads down 

and start to refine them, and choose the right opportunity to upload them, and communication between 

people is becoming less and less, although they are in the same offline, but in the reliance on the media, 

communication is becoming less and communication is indifferent. In the indifference in her book, 

American psychologist Shirley Turk says that social In her book, American psychologist Sherry Turkle 

argues that the spread of social media may seem to create opportunities for people to communicate with 

each other, but in fact, the opposite is true. On the contrary, social media make people more and more 

lonely. 

The second is to make intimate relationships alienating. In addition to friends, intimate relationships 

between family members can also be impacted by dependence on Douyin. After a tiring day of study, 

relatives each hold their cell phones and fiddle with them, immersing themselves in Douyin. The 

original intimate relationship is divided and alienated by the medium. 

Interviewer F (female, 28 years old, first year of PhD): My partner and I have been married for less 

than three years, and communication has decreased significantly. When we get home, he is watching 

Douyin on the sofa, and I feel bored with no one to talk to, so I also open Douyin to catch up with the 

drama, anyway, we just watch our own, and the occasional communication is to share interesting 

videos with each other, I really think this mode of living together is quite bad, but we both like watching 

Douyin too much, and we are tired after coming back, so we can brush Douyin and have some fun. I’m 

not sure if I’m going to be able to get a good time, I don’t have to use my head. 

Interviewer D (male, 23, first year graduate student): For me, after a day of study, I can lie in bed and 

brush Douyin and watch videos that will be funny than anything else. And when I brush Douyin, I don’t 

like to communicate with my roommates, I just want to Whenever my roommate asks me something, I 

am impatient. 

While Douyin has brought convenience, it has also gradually made the interpersonal relationships of 

international students shallow. Many people communicate with each other on Douyin without any 

restrictions, but when they communicate offline, they often face the problem of “lack of words”. The 

intimacy of the virtual environment is in stark contrast to the alienation of the real environment, and the 

social relationship is not strengthened, but rather exacerbated by the gap. In addition, the reliance on 

Douyin inevitably leads to the alienation of intimacy. According to the interviews, many international 



www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/csm               Communication, Society and Media                Vol. 6, No. 3, 2023 

 

 
42 

Published by SCHOLINK INC. 

 

students said that whether it is a gathering of friends or a family reunion, they all keep their heads down 

with their cell phones, swiping Douyin or using other social media. The emergence of Douyin is 

supposed to strengthen the interpersonal connection, let the online communication extend to offline, 

and strengthen the connection between each other, but the dependence of international students on 

Douyin has caused the alienation of social relationship, and the intimacy has become alienated. 

Again, it makes the emotional expression shallow. In Douyin, there are often a lot of emotional hot 

sentences, and they have attracted a lot of international students. Such as “the first cup of milk tea in 

autumn”, “the first house in autumn”, “the first pack of wazoo in autumn”, “the first set of jewelry in 

autumn “, “the first bottle of perfume in autumn” and so on. Many young people on Douyin make a big 

show of milk tea and gifts, as if the only way to prove their feelings is to send milk tea or “ten 

sausages”, making emotional expression of emotion is gradually becoming shallow. 

4.4 Findings for RQ4 

Is it possible to propose more feasible countermeasures from the main body of international students 

and the media ecological environment? On the one hand, international students should play a leading 

role, improve their thinking ability, not be held hostage by “instrumental convenience”, and get rid of 

psychological and behavioral dependence; on the other hand, the Douyin platform, as a media 

enterprise, should take social responsibility, take multiple measures to guide international students to 

use media rationally, promote the benign development of the platform, and spread positive social 

energy. On the other hand, as a media enterprise, the platform should take more measures to guide 

international students to use media rationally, promote the development of the platform and spread 

positive social energy. 

4.4.1 Improvement of the main group of international students 

First of all, international students should maintain an objective and rational attitude towards the use of 

Douyin, and should neither be overly addicted nor have an attitude of avoiding it. According to the 

above questionnaires and interviews, it can be seen that the use of Douyin by international students 

plays an important role in satisfying their spiritual, emotional, social and study needs, therefore, it is 

undeniable that the emergence of Douyin, if used properly, will promote the comprehensive 

improvement of their abilities in all aspects. However, when using Douyin, international students 

should objectively analyze the pros and cons and realize that if they do not control the process of using 

Douyin, the cons will outweigh the pros. Therefore, international students should give full play to their 

own subjectivity and realize that Douyin is actually just an auxiliary tool, and it absolutely cannot and 

should not control themselves as the subject in turn. Therefore, when international students use Douyin, 

they can set limits for themselves in terms of time. For example, when you need to relax in your free 

time, you can raise the usage time moderately, and after reaching the purpose of relieving stress and 

amusement, you can quit the use of Douyin at the right time and make full use of your free time to 



www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/csm               Communication, Society and Media                Vol. 6, No. 3, 2023 

 

 
43 

Published by SCHOLINK INC. 

 

improve yourself; secondly, according to the survey, the reason why most youths rely on Douyin is out 

of boredom, and in order to make themselves seem full, they choose to pass the time with Douyin. In 

response to this, international students should realize that Douyin can only give us a temporary 

“enrichment”, and this “enrichment” is only an illusion that cannot be grasped. The real enrichment 

should be The real enrichment should be to use your spare time to improve yourself, such as setting a 

small goal for yourself, in what time to learn a If you set yourself a small goal to learn a skill or enrich 

your professional knowledge base within a certain period of time, and then proceed to the next small 

goal after completing it, make efficient use of every The next small goal is to make efficient use of 

every free time period and accumulate little by little to make your life more fulfilling and meaningful. 

Second, media dependency theory examines structural media system dependencies from a macro 

perspective. It is believed that the more complex society is, the more functions and roles the mass 

media need to assume, and the audience’s dependence on them will increase accordingly. As today’s 

society is running at a high speed and the social structure is becoming more and more complex, people 

are bound to give up their priorities, save communication costs, and tend to get the information they 

want to know with the help of convenient information systems, so as to re-establish a close connection 

with society and stay in touch with its rhythm. Such a requirement makes the mass media with a certain 

authority and timeliness a bridge of connection in the structure of modern society. In real life, Douyin 

plays such a bridging role, which makes international students rely on Douyin in different degrees. 

Therefore, to avoid over-reliance on Douyin, international students should correctly understand the 

dual attributes of Douyin as a communication medium and not to blindly trust and follow it. For 

example, when faced with negative emotions and values spread on Douyin, they should improve their 

discernment and not just accept them without thinking. For example, the “Buddha system”, which was 

popular on Douyin before, preaches no desire, no need, no competition and no rush. In fact, such values 

encourage international students to avoid pressure and difficulties, and to stay in the “comfort zone” 

created by Douyin, and choose to “lie flat” at the age when they should struggle, and call it 

“Buddhism”. Therefore, international students should resolutely resist the bad information posted on 

Douyin, not to spread it, not to follow it blindly, to make correct judgment, to play their own main 

initiative, to use the rich videos on Douyin to learn and improve themselves, to get more valuable 

information, to be a strict self-discipline, and to let Douyin bring more meaningful information 

experience. For young international students, since their values are still in the process of forming, they 

need proper guidance from the outside world to help them resist the “invasion” of Douyin, such as 

school teachers interspersing relevant guidance in the classroom to explain how to use Douyin to gain 

positive energy and enhance the experience. Parents usually explain to their children about the content 

of Douyin and teach them to distinguish the advantages and disadvantages of the content, so that the 

young international students can develop good habits and enhance their motivation to use Douyin and 



www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/csm               Communication, Society and Media                Vol. 6, No. 3, 2023 

 

 
44 

Published by SCHOLINK INC. 

 

get a good experience of using it. 

Finally, Douyin, as the most popular short-video social media nowadays, is a big hit without the 

support of algorithmic technology, which makes the international student group forget the passage of 

time in the process of brushing Douyin and causes the dependence on Douyin. Therefore, international 

students should improve their rational cognition and realize that the new media technology has two 

sides. On the one hand, we should use the advantages of Douyin technology for our own use and meet 

our own needs for multi-faceted development; on the other hand, we should realize that technology is 

ultimately just a tool for human services, and we should dominate technology instead of letting 

technology become our dominant, maintain objective judgment on the content presented by Douyin, 

realize that it is only a product under the algorithm, and be resolute about the Douyin algorithm 

technology to create We should resist the “addiction mechanism” created by Douyin’s algorithmic 

technology and use rational thinking to make choices. 

4.4.2 Improvement measures of the media ecological environment 

First is the media content excellence, abandoning homogeneous communication. Because Douyin 

video production is simple and easy to get started, the threshold is very low, so the creation volume is 

extremely high, which inevitably brings the problem of mixed content, a large number of identical and 

similar Douyin videos are popping up, but also caused a waste of international students’ attention. 

Therefore, on the one hand, Douyin should make more efforts to improve the quality of content and 

encourage innovation of quality content. For example, it should make use of the convenience of 

Jitterbug communication methods and the diversity of communication means to actively promote 

excellent traditional culture and help form a good creative environment on Douyin, so as to bring 

quality information experience to international students. A special group should also be set up to clean 

up and rectify users who produce and spread vulgar and poor quality contents on Douyin to gain traffic, 

and continuously launch governance actions to prevent international students from forming cognitive 

anomalies under the influence of bad contents. 

The second is to adhere to the bottom line of practitioner responsibilities and create a good media 

environment. Media system dependence theory believes that the more individuals and society use and 

satisfy the media, the deeper their dependence on the media. Therefore, Douyin should adhere to the 

responsibility of the media and devote itself to creating a clean and upright environment for the 

dissemination of short videos. On the one hand, we should expand the power of auditing, strengthen the 

backstage manual auditing and intelligent auditing, and do a good job as a gatekeeper, while at the 

same time, we can also encourage users who have no violations and whose real names are certified to 

apply as “supervisory members” to improve the coverage of auditing. On the other hand, since Douyin 

is based on big data algorithm to push content to international students’ preferences, if the quality of 

video content is problematic, but still recommended, international students will lose their good 



www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/csm               Communication, Society and Media                Vol. 6, No. 3, 2023 

 

 
45 

Published by SCHOLINK INC. 

 

judgment, so we should adhere to the professional ethics of media and give different weight to different 

categories of content. Therefore, we should adhere to media ethics and give different weight to 

different categories of content, so that more knowledgeable, positive and high-quality content can be 

given higher weight. 

Finally, technical optimization design should be strengthened to interfere with excessive media use. 

Young international students are curious about new things, and the diverse and all-embracing contents 

on Douyin are more likely to be favored by international students. Therefore, it is difficult for 

international students who are not strong in self-control to control their media use rationally and 

gradually fall into the strange circle of media dependence. The Douyin platform, as the media subject, 

should strengthen its sense of social responsibility and consciously use technical rationality in the 

product design to set up standardized guidance measures to guide international students to use Douyin 

in an appropriate amount, and optimize the interface design to free international students from their 

dependence on the media psychologically. For example, setting a striking time reminder on the screen 

interface can play a certain role of supervision. We can also organize and plan novel activities that 

attract young people nowadays, such as automatically forwarding and sharing online and offline 

activities with the theme of “balance time and moderate use”, which can prevent young people from 

spending too much energy on social platforms and keep them away from the clutter and noise 

generated in online social networking. Users can enjoy the beauty of the virtual world while actively 

participating in real-life practices, developing diverse hobbies and enhancing beneficial communication, 

thus discovering the beauty of real life. 

 

5. Conclusion 

The iterative upgrade of mobile Internet technology has made Douyin, which combines timeliness, 

rapid interactive feedback and convenient access to information, gain the popularity of the international 

student community and become a high application software in modern people’s work, study and daily 

life. However, international students, as the backbone of national development, spend a lot of time and 

energy on Douyin, which will undoubtedly take up a lot of time that should be used to improve their 

abilities. Therefore, on the one hand, international students should play a leading role, improve their 

thinking and discernment ability, not be held hostage by “instrumental convenience”, and get rid of 

their psychological and behavioral dependence. On the other hand, the Douyin platform, as a media 

enterprise, should take up its social responsibility, give full play to its technical advantages, improve its 

guidance measures, and better promote the rational use of users and the benign dissemination of the 

platform. In order to make this study more relevant and scientific, I did a lot of literature combing and 

investigation in the preliminary research, and through questionnaires and in-depth interviews, I 

concluded that international students have formed a certain degree of media dependence on Douyin 



www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/csm               Communication, Society and Media                Vol. 6, No. 3, 2023 

 

 
46 

Published by SCHOLINK INC. 

 

through data analysis, and explored the reasons and improvement measures. The final conclusion is that 

the problem of international students’ over-dependence on Douyin and other social media can be better 

solved through a multi-pronged approach with the cooperation of audience, media and society. Due to 

the limited ability of the researcher and the scope of the survey, there are many shortcomings in the 

thesis. I hope to receive criticism and correction from previous scholars, and I also hope that my 

immature research and discussion can contribute to the in-depth study of related issues. I also hope that 

my immature research and discussion can contribute to the in-depth study of related issues. 

 

Author Biography 

Xu Duo is a PhD student in the Department of Communication at IUKL’s of Arts, Communication and 

Education. She is currently an editor at Hexi University in Gansu Province, China, as an editor in the 

academic newspaper and magazine department. Email: 602337033@qq.com 

Faridah Ibrahim, PhD is a professor in the Department of Journalism and Communication IUKL, 

School of Communication, Business, Information and Human Sciences. She has been working in 

academia for 37 years, joining the University, UKM and IUKL. Her research and publications cover 

war and peace journalism, organizational communications, film and broadcast, media ethics and 

professionalism, and women in media. Email: faridah@iukl.edu.my 

 

Acknowledgement 

This thesis started and ended with a passion to gain extra knowledge and to fulfill my ambition to do 

research. Indeed, it has been a long journey, but a worthwhile one. First of all, I must thank Professor Dr 

Faridah Ibrahim, my supervisor who has been guiding me in the research with much patience and 

encouraging words. All your advice, support, and help are appreciated. Thank you! Also, Sincere 

appreciation to other professor in faculty, for their great support. 

I am thankful to the Infrastructure University of Kuala Lumpur, especially the Faculty of Business, 

Information &Human Sciences (FBIHS) , for all the technical support and facilities provided throughout 

my time with the Department.  

 

References 

Ball-Rokeach, S. J. (1985). The Origns of Individual Media-System Dependency: A Sociological 

Framework. Communication Research, 12(4), 485-510. 

Borgirocci, Zheng, Z. Y., & Wang, B. (Trans.). (2004). From media system dependence to 

communication organism—A review of the development of media system dependence theory and 

new concepts. International Journalism, (04). 

Bozeman, N. (2015). Entertainment to death. Zhongxin Publishing House.  



www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/csm               Communication, Society and Media                Vol. 6, No. 3, 2023 

 

 
47 

Published by SCHOLINK INC. 

 

Cheng, C.-J., Wang, Y. R., & Liang, Z.-M. (2015). The negative impact of WeChat friend circle on 

interpersonal communication and perfect countermeasures. News Front, (04), 24-25. 

Devereux, M., & Lokich, B. (1990). Theories of Mass Communication. Xinhua Publishing House. 

Feng, J. X. (2012). The manifestation and characteristics of “media dependence”. Modern Audiovisual, 

(10), 22-26. 

Gong, X. Q. (2011). Relationship-Conflict-Integration-Three dimensions of understanding media 

dependence. Contemporary Communication, (01). 

Guo, Q. G. (2011). Tutorial of communication science. Beijing: People’s University of China Press. 

Guo, X. Z. (2019). A study on media dependence of social short video platform audiences. Media, (01), 

54-57. 

Han, X., Zhang, H. Z., He, K., & Ma, S. Y. (2021). The masking effect of media dependence: Do users 

feel more isolated with higher levels of prosocial interaction with social robots the higher the level 

of parasympathetic interaction with social bots, the more isolated users feel? International 

Journalism, 43(09), 25-48. DOI:10.13495/j.cnki.cjjc.2021.09.002 

Han, X., Zhang, H. Z., He, K., & Ma, S. Y. (2021). The masking effect of media dependence: Do users 

feel more lonely with higher levels of prosocial interaction with social robots? International New 

Territories, 43(09), 25-48. 

Huang, J. J. (2016). Media dependence in the context of social networks—A media ecology perspective. 

Youth Journal Youth Journal, (09), 86-87. 

Jiang, S. L., Hao, X. M., & Lin, C. J. (2019). Psychology and behavior of smartphone use from the 

perspective of media dependence theory—A comparative study of cell phone use among college 

students in China and Singapore. Journalism University, (03), 101-115, 120. 

Kuang, J. (2013). An empirical study of media dependence theory in the mobile media environment—A 

quantitative analysis based on college students’ cell phone dependence. News Knowledge, (02), 

99-101. 

Lin, A. J., Zhang, X. F., & Tong, B. (2007). “The media influence and media dependence in our society. 

Journalism, (06), 8-10. 

Lin, Y. J. (2020). A study of short video audiences under media system dependence. Editor’s Friend, (07), 

74-78. 

Liu, Q. S., & Yang, Q. (2016). A rational review of audience media dependence in the new media era. 

Media, (20), 81-83. 

Lu, Z., Yang, N., & Chen, H. M. (2016). A study on social media use and media dependence among 

college students—A survey of college students in six colleges and universities in Beijing. Youth 

Journalist, (23), 25-26. DOI:10.15997/j.cnki.qnjz.2016.23.016 

 



www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/csm               Communication, Society and Media                Vol. 6, No. 3, 2023 

 

 
48 

Published by SCHOLINK INC. 

 

Miller, M, M,, & Reese, S. D. (1982). MEDIA DEPENDENCY AS INTERACTION effects of Exposure 

and Reliance on Political Activity and Efficacy. Communication Research, 9(2), 227-248. 

Nie, Y. (2015). The phenomenon of social media dependence in the perspective of media environment 

science. Dongyue Series, 36(02), 189-192. 

Shapiro, M. A., & Chock, T. M. (2004). Media Dependency and Perceived Reality of Fiction and News. 

Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media, 48(4), 675. 

Sun, L. (2016). A study on social media dependence in the perspective of youth subculture. Southeast 

Communication, (03). 

Wang, H. C. (2009). The change of audience’s dependence on media in the new media era. 

Contemporary Communication, (02), 90-92. 

Wu, W. S., & Yu, G. M. (2015). Media use and information reliance of urban Internet users-an analysis 

of users’ media dependence, trust and online news An analysis of users’ media dependence, trust 

and online news browsing patterns. Contemporary Communication, (03), 33-35. 

Xie, X. Z. (2004). An empirical study of “media dependence” theory in the Internet environment. 

Journal of Shijiazhuang College of Economics, (02), 218-224. 

Xu, C. H. (2014). Social media dependence from a social psychology perspective. News 

Communication, (09), 131-132. 

Xu, Y., Su, S.-B., & Lin, D.-H. (2012). The relationship between parental factors, resistance efficacy and 

adolescents’ new media dependence behavior. Psychological Development and Education, 28(04), 

421-427. 

Yao, J. X. (2014). The influence of media use and media dependence on trust evaluation: A comparative 

study based on different media. Contemporary Communication, (02), 19-24. 

Yi, L. P. (2011). An analysis of the causes of audience media dependence in the new media environment. 

Media Today, 19(02), 90-91. 

You, C., & Jia, G. H. (2019). Exploration of media dependence syndrome in the Internet era. Chinese 

Journal of Radio and Television, (04), 67-69. 

Yu, M.-S. (2012). Research on audience media dependence in the new media environment. Zhongnan 

University. 

Yu, Y. R. (2012). The phenomenon of “media dependence” in modern society from the perspective of 

sociology. Jiannan Literature (Classical Education Court), (06), 299, 301. 

Zhang, X. (2015). Exploration of the factors influencing audience media dependence in the perspective 

of social environment. Journalism Research Guide, (15). 

Zhao, H. X. (2020). An analysis of the “faith risk” of youth groups in the context of new media 

dependence. China Youth Studies, (01), 13-20. 

 



www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/csm               Communication, Society and Media                Vol. 6, No. 3, 2023 

 

 
49 

Published by SCHOLINK INC. 

 

Zhu, Q. H., & Zhang, J. H. (2013). Media dependence of “grassroots culture” and its social effects. 

Modern Communication (Journal of China Media University), 35(06), 16-20. 


