Reverse Culture Shock in the Age of Social Media

Abstract

When sojourners come back to their home country, they have to suffer a certain degree of symptoms such as feelings of alienation, discomfort and abnormality. this phenomenon is called "reverse culture shock". However in the last decade the industry of social media has been growing rapidly, including microblog such as China´s Weibo. microblogging has a positive effect on building common ground and mutual understanding, enhancing feelings of intimacy and connectedness with others. Thanks to social media sojourners have a bridge connecting themselves and their home countries and close people there. So this study aims to figure out whether these benefits of social media play a role in reducing sojourners`sense of reverse culture shock.