WeChat – China’s social network
For those of you in the West who either keep track of what I do or we are friends on Facebook, you might wonder why I’m not online more online. Well, first, living in China requires a VPN which means I have to login to another computer somewhere else in the world in order to access website currently blocked in China. As you may be aware, China has rather tight control of its media outlets and it often blocks companies who do not abide by its stringent rules (Google and Facebook are notable examples). Second, I’ve been using China’s current social media network, WeChat.
WeChat is what Facebook wanted to become when it bought Whatsapp: a mix between a messaging system and social profile. Your main profile is kept to a bare minimum and, from what I see, is mostly lies. Your “feed” is made up of the pages you follow and your contacts’ photos and quips and links. It is so popular that you don’t ask for phone numbers any more, you ask for someone’s WeChat ID. To be fair, I don’t know what mine is and I’m okay with that.
And this new social network app is the 3rd or 4th social network I’ve joined in other countries. Email aside, the other accounts include Facebook, Twitter, vKontakt, and Whatsapp. I’ve noticed most social networks outside of the US require a phone number to login, not a username and password. I’ll tell you, it’s much easier and a much better system. But it also means you have to closely guard your cellphone.
WeChat is owned by Tencent, a Chinese bred company which means it receives some help from the powers-that-be. Further, it’s a proud moment for Chinese tech companies, similar to the “Made in America” label you’ll find on overpriced products from the US. Although I was slow to adopt WeChat, citing it as just another social media tool AND the concern that I’d be getting messages from my students at all hours, I’ve come to like it. The app simply works well, including text, voice and file transfers. It also has a web version which you can scan a QR code and chat on your computer instead.
However, there is an even larger problem with the app than sharing information with the government… it’s distracting. My students, fresh from the strict disciplinary atmosphere of their high schools, have been practically let off the leash and are allowed to keep their cellphones during class. I see why they are taken away during high school, all the students do is stare at their phones and/or take pictures of their professors and/or generally do something on their cell phone rather than pay attention. One professor tried to take a stance and take away the cell phones but the effect was even worse. They rolled around in their chairs, picked at each other’s hair, and generally looked lost. It’s as if they didn’t know how to function without their cell phone.
Now, I’ve stopped trying to police it and I can’t help but think that sometimes I could do more to keep them interested. However, I do take a stance on them asking questions over WeChat if I’ve already addressed it in class. The one great thing about this application, however, is that I can contact the class monitor and share or assign work for class before the students, or I, show up.
I don’t entirely blame them, what with smartphones and WeChat, life is never all that dull, and I can practice my Chinese at the same time.
One of the cuter aspects of WeChat is the emoticons, the little images that describe in pictures better than you could in words… such as the pouty face or puppy eyes, which my students send to me all the time, often with a request of some sort.
Or the more creative ones:
And so on. There’s a whole lot of those emojis and, whenever a new one is released, it’s shared all over the place and the students begin to snicker. When I informed my students that we didn’t have cell phones when I was in university they just gave me blank stares. I couldn’t tell if they meant “What?!” or “And so?” or they were waiting to text their friends, “What did he say?” For better and worse, technology has invaded the modern classroom.