We used in-depth interviews with 101 participants in the East York section of Toronto, Canada to understand how digital media affects social connectivity in general—and networked individualism in particular—for people at different stages of the life course. Although people of all ages intertwined their use of digital media with their face-to-face interactions, younger adults used more types of digital media and have more diversified personal networks. People in different age-groups conserved media, tending to stick with the digital media they learned to use in earlier life stages. Approximately one-third of the participants were Networked Individuals: In each age-group, they were the most actively using digital media to maintain ties and to develop new ones. Another one-third were Socially Bounded, who often actively used digital media but kept their connectivity within a smaller set of social groups. The remaining one-third, who were Socially Limited, were the least likely to use digital media. Younger adults were the most likely to be Networked Individuals, leading us to wonder if the percentage of the population who are Bounded or Limited will decline over time.

中文翻译：

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数字时代的网络化问题：网络化、有界和有限的个体如何在生命历程的不同阶段相互联系？

我们对加拿大多伦多东约克区的 101 名参与者进行了深入访谈，以了解数字媒体如何影响处于生命历程不同阶段的人们的总体社会联系，尤其是网络个人主义。尽管各个年龄段的人都将数字媒体的使用与面对面的互动交织在一起，但年轻人使用的数字媒体类型更多，个人网络也更加多样化。不同年龄段的人都保存媒体，倾向于坚持他们在生命早期阶段学会使用的数字媒体。大约三分之一的参与者是网络个人：在每个年龄组中，他们最积极地使用数字媒体来维持联系并发展新的联系。另外三分之一是有社会约束力的，他们经常积极使用数字媒体，但在较小的社会群体中保持联系。剩下的三分之一是社交受限的人，他们最不可能使用数字媒体。年轻人是最有可能成为网络个体的人，这让我们想知道受限制或受限制的人口百分比是否会随着时间的推移而下降。