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  4. Vol 7, Issue 1, 2026

Private Sphere Dissolution and Reconstruction in Youth Online Public Space: Baby Food Supplement Tag

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DOI: 10.23977/mediacr.2026.070119 | Downloads: 0 | Views: 6

Author(s)

Meihua Cheng 1, Dan Wang 1

Affiliation(s)

1 School of Publishing, University of Shanghai for Science and Technology, Shanghai, China

Corresponding Author

Meihua Cheng

ABSTRACT

Digital technology has restructured the traditional boundaries between public space and the private sphere, and the practice of youth seeking private spheres on online public platforms has become increasingly prominent. The functional alienation of the Xiaohongshu #Baby Food Supplement tag has attracted widespread attention. Taking youth users aged 18–28 under this tag as the research object, this study focuses on the core issue of how youth reconstruct the private sphere in online public space. Adopting a mixed research method of LDA topic modeling and semi-structured interviews, it conducts topic clustering on 9,158 valid blog posts under the tag in 2025 and in-depth interviews with 20 non-maternal content producers under the tag. The study finds that the #Baby Food Supplement tag has been alienated from a maternal content identifier into a digital barrier for youth to construct the private sphere. Youth actively construct the private sphere in public platforms through three strategies: algorithmic resistance (filtering male users), privacy protection (delineating safe expression zones), and community connection (forming female mutual aid circles). Moreover, the public-private boundary in digital space presents fluid characteristics of being designable and adjustable. This study not only provides empirical evidence for understanding youth spatial practices in the digital era but also expands the interpretive dimensions of Lefebvre's spatial theory, Goffman's dramaturgical theory, and Habermas's public sphere theory in digital scenarios, with practical reference value for youth online privacy protection and platform spatial governance.

KEYWORDS

Public space; private space; public-private relationship; tag function; baby food supplement

CITE THIS PAPER

Meihua Cheng, Dan Wang. Private Sphere Dissolution and Reconstruction in Youth Online Public Space: Baby Food Supplement Tag. Media and Communication Research (2026). Vol. 7, No.1, 121-133. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.23977/mediacr.2026.070119.

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