Companionship:Mobile Social Relationships in the Digital Age
This article employs online fieldwork and mobile ethnography to study the mobility practices of backpackers traversing the 318 highway from Sichuan to Tibet.It explores the unique spaces of interaction fostered by backpackers,as well as the social relations and connections they engender.Introducing the concept of"companionship,"this research illuminates a form of human connectivity and group formation within the context of a mobile society and the digital age.Companionship underscores the short-term and voluntary partnerships spontaneously formed by participants within specific spatial and temporal confines.As a reflection of emerging social dynamics,companionship sheds light on evolving patterns among individuals navigating between the familiar and the unfamiliar,the solitary and the collective,and the online and the offline realms.This concept offers a nuanced analysis of individual cases and introduces a fresh theoretical lens for examining group relations and connections amidst technological and mobility shifts.Through this exploration,the study contributes to our understanding of contemporary sociality and the interplay between mobility,technology,and human interaction.