Hong Kong’s controversy over the Anti-extradition Bill Movement triggered a large-scale social movement, which gradually evolved from relatively peaceful demonstrations to a prolonged series of conflicts and even street violence. Hong Kong students are the most front-line participants. Social media are important platforms for youth political mobilization and organization. The growing political polarization on social media has led to a series of problems such as political unfriending and even cyberbullying. This study interviewed 96 students to investigate their practices of political unfriending on social media, to analyse the psychological pressure and possible cyberbullying caused by such online participatory action towards political dissidents, and to explore ways for government, schools, parents, and other stakeholders to guide students to break their information cocoons by exposing to different political ideologies in a more inclusive manner for a healthier development of democracy in Hong Kong.
References
[1]
Agur, C. P., & Frisch, N. (2019). Digital Disobedience: Social Media Activism in Hong Kong’s 2014 Umbrella Movement. Social Media and Society, 5. https://doi.org/10.1177/2056305119827002
[2]
Bevan, J. L., & Hale, J. L. (2006). Negative Jealousy-Related Emotion Rumination as Consequences of Romantic Partner, Cross-Sex Friend, and Sibling Jealousy Expression. Communication Studies, 57, 363-379. https://doi.org/10.1080/10510970600945907
[3]
Braun, V., & Clarke, V. (2006). Using Thematic Analysis in Psychology. Qualitative Research in Psychology, 3, 77-101. https://doi.org/10.1191/1478088706qp063oa
[4]
Chan, C. P. (2016). Post-Umbrella Movement: Localism and Radicalness of the Hong Kong Student Movement. Contemporary Chinese Political Economy and Strategic Relations: An International Journal, 2, 885-908.
[5]
Duggan, M., & Smith, A. (2016). Political Content on Social Media. Pew Research Center.
[6]
Fang, K., & Cheng, C. Y. (2022). Social Media Live Streaming as Affective News in the Anti-ELAB Movement in Hong Kong. Chinese Journal of Communication, 15, 401-414. https://doi.org/10.1080/17544750.2022.2083202
[7]
Forest, A. L., & Wood, J. V. (2012). When Social Networking Is Not Working Individuals with Low Self-Esteem Recognize but Do Not Reap the Benefits of Self-Disclosure on Facebook. Psychological Science, 23, 295-302. https://doi.org/10.1177/0956797611429709
[8]
Gong, M., & Zuo, L. (2020). Research on College Students’ Ideological and Political Education in the New Media Era. Creative Education, 11, 881-884. https://doi.org/10.4236/ce.2020.116063
[9]
Himelboim, I., Hansen, D., & Bowser, A. (2013). Playing in the Same Twitter Network: Political Information Seeking in the 2010 US Gubernatorial Elections. Information, Communication & Society, 16, 1373-1396. https://doi.org/10.1080/1369118X.2012.706316
[10]
Hong Kong Economic Journal (HKEJ) (2020). Tang Ping-Keung: More than 10,000 Protestors Arrested in the Anti-Extradition Bill Movement. https://www2.hkej.com/instantnews/current/article/3282097/%E9%84%A7%E7%82%B3%E5%BC%B7%3A%E7%B4%AF%E8%A8%8810279%E4%BA%BA%E6%B6%89%E9%BB%91%E6%9A%B4%E8%A2%AB%E6%8D%95+%E6%9C%80%E9%AB%98%E5%88%A4%E5%9B%9A5%E5%B9%B4%E5%8D%8A
[11]
Hong Kong Institute of Asia-Pacific Studies, HKIAPS CUHK (2017). Research Report: Youth Political Participation and Social Media Use in Hong Kong. http://www.cuhk.edu.hk/hkiaps/cys/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/Research-Report_Youth-Political-Participation-and-Social-Media-Use-in-Hong-Kong.pdf
[12]
John, N. A., & Dvir-Gvirsman, S. (2015). “I Don’t Like You Any More”: Facebook Unfriending by Israelis during the Israel-Gaza Conflict of 2014. Journal of Communication, 65, 953-974. https://doi.org/10.1111/jcom.12188
[13]
Johnson, T. J., Kaye, B. K., & Lee, A. M. (2017). Blinded by the Spite? Path Model of Political Attitudes, Selectivity, and Social Media. Atlantic Journal of Communication, 25, 181-196. https://doi.org/10.1080/15456870.2017.1324454
[14]
Justwan, F., Baumgaertner, B., Carlisle, J. E., Clark, A. K., & Clark, M. (2018). Social Media Echo Chambers and Satisfaction with Democracy Among Democrats and Republicans in the Aftermath of the 2016 US Elections. Journal of Elections, Public Opinion and Parties, 28, 424-442. https://doi.org/10.1080/17457289.2018.1434784
[15]
Kavanaugh, A., Carroll, J. M., Rosson, M. B., Zin, T. T., & Reese, D. D. (2005). Community Networks: Where Offline Communities Meet Online. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 10, Article ID: JCMC10417. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1083-6101.2005.tb00266.x
[16]
Ku, A. S. (2020). New Forms of Youth Activism—Hong Kong’s Anti-Extradition Bill Movement in the Local-National-Global Nexus. Space and Polity, 24, 111-117. https://doi.org/10.1080/13562576.2020.1732201
[17]
Kushin, M. J., & Yamamoto, M. (2010). Did Social Media Really Matter? College Students’ Use of Online Media and Political Decision Making in the 2008 Election. Mass Communication & Society, 13, 608-630. https://doi.org/10.1080/15205436.2010.516863
[18]
Lai-LaGrotteria, S. (2023). The Impact of Mass Protests on Hong Kong Educators, Parents, and Students. Journal of Loss & Trauma, 28, 21-35. https://doi.org/10.1080/15325024.2021.2003075
[19]
Lau, K. M., Hou, W. K., Hall, B. J., Canetti, D., Ng, S. M. et al. (2016). Social Media and Mental Health in Democracy Movement in Hong Kong: A Population-Based Study. Computers in Human Behavior, 64, 656-662. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2016.07.028
[20]
Lee, F. L. F., & Chan, J. M. (2016). Digital Media Activities and Mode of Participation in a Protest Campaign: A Study of the Umbrella Movement. Information, Communication & Society, 19, 4-22. https://doi.org/10.1080/1369118X.2015.1093530
[21]
Lee, F. L. F., Chen, H.-T., & Chan, M. (2017). Social Media Use and University Students’ Participation in a Large-Scale Protest Campaign: The Case of Hong Kong’s Umbrella Movement. Telematics and Informatics, 34, 457-459. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tele.2016.08.005
[22]
Lee, F. L. F.., Chan, M., & Chen, H.-T. (2020). Social Media and Protest Attitudes during Movement Abeyance: A Study of Hong Kong University Students. International Journal of Communication, 14, 4932-4951.
[23]
Meng, S. Q. (2018). Youth Political Participation in Hong Kong under the New Media Environment: Forms, Characteristics, and Impact. Study on One-Country, Two-System, No. 3, 122-129.
[24]
Pariser, E. (2011). The Filter Bubble: What the Internet Is Hiding from You. Penguin.
[25]
Purbrick, M. (2019) A Report of The 2019 Hong Kong Protests. Asian Affairs, 50, 465-487. https://doi.org/10.1080/03068374.2019.1672397
[26]
Reichert, F. (2021). Collective Protest and Expressive Action among University Students in Hong Kong: Associations between Offline and Online Forms of Political Participation. Frontiers in Political Science, 2, Article 608203. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpos.2020.608203
[27]
Shen, F., Xia, C., & Skoric, M. (2020). Examining the Roles of Social Media and Alternative Media in Social Movement Participation: A Study of Hong Kong’s Umbrella Movement. Telematics and Informatics, 47, Article ID: 101303. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tele.2019.101303
[28]
Sibona, C. (2014). Unfriending on Facebook: Context Collapse and Unfriending Behaviors. In Proceedings of 2014 47th Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences (pp. 1676-1685). IEEE. https://doi.org/10.1109/HICSS.2014.214
[29]
Sibona, C., & Walczak, S. (2011). Unfriending on Facebook: Friend Request and Online/Offline Behavior Analysis. In Proceedings of 2011 44th Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences. IEEE. https://doi.org/10.1109/HICSS.2011.467
[30]
Steinfield, C., Ellison, N., Lampe, C., & Vitak, J. (2012). Online Social Network Sites and the Concept of Social Capital. In F. L. Lee, L. Leung, J. S. Qui, & D. Chu (Eds.), Frontiers in New Media Research (pp. 115-131). Routledge.
[31]
Stroud, N. J. (2008). Media Use and Political Predispositions: Revisiting the Concept of Selective Exposure. Political Behavior, 30, 341-366. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11109-007-9050-9
[32]
Stroud, N. J. (2010). Polarization and Partisan Selective Exposure. Journal of Communication, 60, 556-576. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1460-2466.2010.01497.x
[33]
Su, C. C., Chan, M., & Paik, S. (2022). Telegram and the Anti-ELAB Movement in Hong Kong: Reshaping Networked Social Movements through Symbolic Participation and Spontaneous Interaction. Chinese Journal of Communication, 15, 431-448. https://doi.org/10.1080/17544750.2022.2092167
[34]
Sunstein, C. R. (2002). The Law of Group Polarization. Journal of Political Philosophy, 10, 175-195. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9760.00148
[35]
Sweeny, K., Melnyk, D., Miller, W., & Sheppard, J. A. (2010). Information Avoidance: Who, What, When, and Why. Review of General Psychology 14, 340-353. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0021288
[36]
Ting, T. Y. (2019). Everyday Networked Activism in Hong Kong’s Umbrella Movement: Expanding on Contemporary Practice Theory to Understand Activist Digital Media Usages. International Journal of Communication, 13, 3250-3269.
[37]
Tong, S. T., & Walther, J. B. (2011). Just Say “No Thanks”: Romantic Rejection in Computer-Mediated Communication. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, 28, 488-506. https://doi.org/10.1177/0265407510384895
