College Students’ Self-Mockery under Algorithmic Existence: A Study of Online Discourse Performance and Self-Presentation Mechanisms

Abstract

In algorithm-driven social media environments, college students’ self-mockery discourse exhibits new performative forms and self-presentation logics. Using Goffman’s dramaturgical theory as its analytical framework and incorporating a platform-studies perspective, this paper examines the performative forms and self-presentation mechanisms of college students’ self-mockery discourse under conditions of algorithmic existence, drawing on semi-structured interviews with 12 students from Zhuhai College of Science and Technology and netnographic observation of 31 typical self-mockery cases on Weibo, Bilibili, and Xiaohongshu. The findings are as follows: college students’ online self-mockery manifests in four typical forms—academic self-mockery, social self-mockery, bodily and consumption-related self-mockery, and future-anxiety self-mockery. Under the mechanism of algorithmic visibility, self-mockery shifts from backstage emotional catharsis to a frontstage performance strategy, forming a dual self-presentation logic of “reverse self-packaging” and “defensive exposure.” Peer groups accomplish team collaboration through relay self-mockery, while platforms transform self-mockery into traffic resources through preferences for labeling and emotionalized expression. While such performance provides emotional resonance and group identity, it is also accompanied by risks of self-labeling and emotional exhaustion.