Discussion keeps the world turning.
This is Roundtable.
You're listening to Roundtable with myself Hei Yang.
I'm joined by Yushan and Steve Hatherly in the studio.
Coming up with 1 .3 billion users on WeChat, we've realized they're doing something new.
That's turning off WeChat sports, trimming moments and sometimes crafting cryptic one -liners as signatures.
Is this about guarding privacy, dodging judgment, or mastering the art of saying less to say more?
And whether it's the world of pop culture, technology, or something or anything that touches your heart, we're here to discuss in our Heart to Heart segment.
Email us at RoundtablePodcast at QQ .com and if you're feeling bold send us a voice memo.
It's always a win. And today we get to hear someone sending us a voice message with a rather personal question but we're more than happy to give you an answer in today's Heart to Heart segment.
Our podcast listeners can find us at Roundtable China on Apple Podcast.
Now let's switch gears and discuss something different.
Once upon a time. Okay maybe just a few years ago WeChat Moments was the go -to spot for sharing lives highlights while WeChat Sports turned step counts into a daily competition.
Some folks would get up at the crack of dawn just to conquer the leaderboard while others would make sure to take post -meal strolls to avoid an embarrassing rank.
But lately more and more people are hitting the close button on their moments or going completely silent.
As moments fade WeChat Sports has quickly become the next feature people are ditching.
So what is behind this shift?
For those who might not live in China or use WeChat please explain the features of WeChat Moments and Sports and why are people talking about this right?
The signature thing.
Yeah we need to know about all of these things.
I mean WeChat Moment is like a must -know when you first add someone on WeChat.
At least for the old version of me if I want to know someone that newly added I'll go to first of all I'll add this person.
After adding him or her I'll go to the moments to kind of swipe and see what he or she had posted before.
So basically this is a platform from WeChat that allows users to share photos, videos, and status and just some personal updates of their lives.
It's kind of like Facebook or Instagram feed.
Yeah that's what I would compare the moments to is that you know after you meet somebody that maybe you're interested in them romantically or something right then you immediately start to stock them online and you go to their Facebook page or their Instapage or whatever.
And there you can see what they've posted.
WeChat Moments is kind of the same thing.
Yeah that's how I will define it too.
I mean you add someone and you try to engage in the conversation with them so that's sort of like a best what most direct way for you to get to know them or at least who they are just a little bit.
And for WeChat Sports just imagine a WeChat version of Apple Health or Google Fit is also a daily step counts app that's you know affiliated with WeChat and it encourages users to be more active by showing how many steps you've taken each day and providing a leader among friends as well.
That's the worst. I can see so many problems with this.
I know like for example yesterday I took three thousand step which is good enough for a workday and then WeChat Sports just showed me oh you rank 150 by taking three thousand step.
I'm like what? 150 out of what?
Out of all of my friends.
Okay yeah so your ranking is among the people in your WeChat friend list.
Yes exactly. Uh -huh.
Well initially it was thought as a feature that could bode a positive influence on people because of that spirit of competition then you know some people would otherwise sit in the couch and eat potato chips but instead you know I mentioned going out to take a walk instead just so that you don't have like
eight steps. That's my weekend.
I'm curious to know what those eight steps would be.
When I got water from the kitchen, living room from the bedroom to the kitchen back to the bedroom.
Yeah that's more than eight I think you'd have to roll to the fridge on your stomach or something.
Anyway maybe we can talk about that a little bit later in terms of why people are maybe not loving that so much these days so that's the okay so that's the moment.
Oh quick question on the moments.
So people just like on Facebook or insta people can go to your WeChat moments and then like like your heart your pictures or your posts or what have you.
Yeah that's one way of showing support and also got the other person knowing that I'm looking at your photo.
Got it. And they can also heart your number of steps too.
Oh my yeah I didn't know that.
Oh nobody's hearting your steps you poor thing.
She's not checking.
Maybe people are you know secretly hearting your steps but you just don't know.
And so I think for some people like maybe with a little bit of a healthy mindset we don't really pay that much attention on the ranking we just look at the hearts.
Oh you know you've got like 10 hearts today because the ranking you've got these outrageous people who don't have a job or whatever it is they have like 30 ,000 steps which well unless you're a delivery worker or I don't know your work requires you to be on your feet all day.
It's hard to accomplish for someone who works in an office for example.
Not enough hours in the day.
I don't think so. That is kind of why people are turning it off as well right because you don't want that outside opinion or gaze from other people that's almost like spying on you how many steps you've taken today and maybe heart at eight step at a day that you didn't feel like you support.
So then yeah so people are and this is what's happening here right is that people are turning off WeChat sports and closing their moments.
So what are some of the reasons behind the decision to do that?
I mean of course for me it's mostly out of privacy because starting from earlier this year I no longer post rapidly on my moments as well.
By posting I mean pictures sometimes I still send like transfer links that I really like or comment on things or articles that I really feel for but for posting pictures sharing updates about my life I don't I don't feel like doing that anymore because of the privacy reasons but also I feel like if you
truly want to express happiness you can just share the happiness with the person you want to instead of sharing it.
Hey I'm out here eating this very delicious food it looks amazing with this person that person it's like yeah people are liking it but it doesn't give you that huge of an emotional positive emotional feedback as it used to so now that I what I tend to do is just share with the people I want to share with and then
for moments just keep it that way instead of posting everything.
What types of trends did we see in the moments before?
I'm drawing perhaps a comparison to the complaint about Instagram in that people only represent the amazing side of their lives so if you look at somebody's Instapage if you look at anybody's Instapage you think oh my goodness everybody's life is better than mine.
Is that what moments turned into as well kind of a place for people to brag about you know this or that or the other thing in their life?
I would completely say that's a bragging about things.
It's definitely definitely a way of showing off the things that you're very proud of that or that you're enjoying and you want everybody else to know that you're enjoying.
That's what I'm talking about that's what happened on Instagram too.
It's not bragging in like here I'm amazing it's just bragging in the more subtle sense.
Humblebrag. Humblebragging yeah that's what Instagram turned into people's complained as well.
Same same and that might your Instagram example might correlate better with red or which is more like visual focused and with WeChat.
See it's evolved into a different kind of beast initially like if you know if you're a Chinese listener who still have this memory initially when WeChat and WeChat became popular now in hindsight just think about the posts that people put out there shocking they really did not treat the viewers as they
treated the viewers like family in my opinion.
Too honest you mean?
Oh my goodness yes even if you look at like what celebrities used to post ten years ago the language is not polished sometimes there's even a couple of swear words and they're like dumping their emotional stuff there and even for regular folks like I used to wonder there was once I saw my hairdresser
yeah we're on WeChat we're WeChat friends and he was he was obvious he obviously had a few drinks or something and he was venting about this marital problem it was like no way am I going back home with this woman again and then a week later of course he went back home with his wife so you know like
and at the time because because I've maybe because I'm on this show and we're always talking about these different issues and then I've always wondered like these are digital footprints yeah no kidding but no you're right though at the time people didn't think about that didn't they but now WeChat has evolved
into something like a work platform a place to show off yeah because you know your boss or your boss's boss might be seeing this and then you know it's just not so genuine anymore and then it's not so private anymore and if your boss can see that oh you took eight steps yesterday and or oh no it might be
the opposite of that oh you said you were sick but you took fifteen thousand steps what did you do you're not sick so the so the moments thing people were feeling like it just got a little bit too private and they didn't want to share as much anymore and we've talked about that kind of social trend
too about you know people are taking a step back from socializing as much as they used to but with the sports thing oh I didn't even think about that so people can check in on you for different aspects of your life it's kind of like it's kind of like a GPS tracker you know in a way in a strange weird
way a lot of the time is when no yeah I mean a lot of the times when people are posting pictures they mark the location where that picture was taken as well yeah and then you when you see them ranking high on the steps thing this the we chat sport thing you'll kind of know where they've been especially
if this person is traveling you you'll have a general idea of their route even so it's kind of I don't know invading personal experience at the top of this chat when I said oh I can see so many problems with this I was thinking only about the competition where you could really start to feel bad about yourself
if you were at the lower ranking lower part of the rankings of all your we chat friends and they were doing well and you weren't and it could lead to feelings of anxiety depression that's what I was thinking I didn't even think about you know your boss saying you were sick yesterday but you took ten
thousand steps or but you know and you said oh so people can know where you went but people can also know where you didn't go right so conversely if you said I went somewhere and I did this thing and I had to but you did eight steps you obviously rolled to your fridge and then rolled back to your sofa for the next
episode of I don't know what anybody's favorite show is these days but you see my point I didn't think about that angle and all this is almost more private sorry this is almost more private than this sharing the moments in a way but because people have become detectives self -pronounced detectives and also a friend
of mine said that her ex -boyfriend was like oh I'm sorry babe can't meet up with you this after this weekend I'm not feeling well and then she's like oh you don't take care of yourself well a lot and then she checked her his step count at night more than 10 ,000 steps yeah you were sick I mean he's obviously
in great physical condition but he's also lying so when people are withdrawing from all of this do you think that we are shifting towards a more meaningful offline interaction or are we moving toward a quieter less visible digital lifestyle or maybe I am reading way too much into it well I think now
we can go back to the what I was saying about Instagram before and how it turned into this kind of flex about how great your life was and then how that increased pressure on people and it showed you know seeking validation from other people and how many likes can I get on a particular post which causes
anxiety and stress if those likes don't come and all of that is so new and so weird because that didn't even exist before the year what 2005 or 6 or 7 whenever Instagram Facebook these sites started so now perhaps what we're seeing is a regression or a reversal to the previous to the way that things
used to be where oh I thought this is what I wanted I thought I wanted this validation I thought I needed this approval but actually I'm not enjoying this experience yeah because these days a lot of people are having this so -called the step anxiety seeing how late they're ranked at the on the list how
below they have become and inspiring that even like a source a sort of shame that I'm not moving as much as my friend do but numbers do not define the quality of life of course and they should not be well dictated by just how other people view you based on how much steps you take maybe smaller communities
as well people don't need as many friends as they used to well we never really had that many friends and just a quick last question for this topic you know how do we strike a balance between privacy and social connection in the digital space well definitely share selectively don't yeah literally like
throw everything out there like I used to when I was younger and didn't know better and the hairdresser who hates his wife wonder how they're doing these days yeah they're on baby too right maybe privacy settings right make sure your privacy settings are set the way that you want them to be don't be
afraid to even if you have some social media sites that you update regularly and you check in with your friends which is what people do that's not a terrible thing it's just don't be afraid to you know turn it off for the weekend or something like that maybe just just take a break from it from time
to time yeah digital detox I think that is something that should be tattooed on the arm of some people yeah well what do I have to say you can put that in your moments maybe I will that explains everything coming up let's have a moment of heart to heart you ask we answer roundtable heart to heart today
we have Kitty sending us a voice memo hello dear roundtable this is kitty I'm sending you this audio message for the purpose of asking a question now I'm at a turning point in my life I just took the postgraduate entrance examination a few days ago it was my second time to take this exam although I
spent quite a long time preparing for it and put a lot of efforts into it I didn't perform very well which made me really sad these days almost every time I think about the exam I couldn't help shedding years I think it's a great pity even though I know that I can still achieve success in many other
things those feelings of regret bother me a lot so I'd like to hear your opinions on how to deal with those feelings of regret thank you hey Kitty thank you so much for opening up your heart to us I'm sending you a big radio hug right now and it really takes courage to admit when we're feeling down
maybe sending us a voice memo gave you a sense of anonymity a safe place to share your thoughts and I absolutely appreciate that trust well you you Shan and Steve what do you have to say to Kitty I mean I've Kitty first of all thank you so much for this message I do reckon with you on that sadness and feelings
of regret for failing on the the master degree sorry the postgraduate entrance exam because I I tried my luck on that exam as well I think it was back in 2014 or 2015 and I fell too I'm telling you you had the guts to do it again already proved that you are a very brave person because that's no easy
exam that's not easier than Galco is not easier than any other exams one could ever take in in at least under Chinese context but I'm telling you you're doing a great job already by having being brave enough to take it again to trying it again and even after that now you're gathering your say courage
in trying to find a way out through it I'm I heard that you are dealing with regrets as well and I do feel for you on that as well because at this very moment I'm dealing my share of the regret because yeah that's kind of personal as well I had a very bad news this morning that a cat that I thought
I was saving happened to perish which is very sad which is something that no none of us have been expecting I kind of wanted another way out and especially nowadays in the modern times there are such a fertile fertile ground for people to get lost in so many opportunities and choices that we can make
that we think could have been a better choice if we have done that if if I had take the cat to a different hospital and all that but if you keep on you know spinning in this circle going over what you think you did wrong again and again and not sharing with with other people or not talking with other
people it's very likely that you and I get lost in this quicksand of regret that's something I am experiencing at this very moment and yeah I'm kind of shaking right now as well yeah I know I know what you mean you could if you hang on to that pain or that regret then you could feel like a hamster on a spinning
wheel type thing right yeah thanks for sharing as well I think it's very important for you to learn to forgive yourself and face that regret that's where our head if I'm to give us the tip when things happen in our lives when bad things happen to us in our lives it makes us feel like it's the end of the world
right maybe if you think back to when you were maybe a teenager and your first romantic relationship ended well that that seemed like the worst thing on the planet but then within a couple of years you realized oh actually that was just a moment in my life that gave me an opportunity to grow and find
strength and develop character I like to think like this kitty mmm life is kind of compartmentalized in the sense that it comes in windows doesn't it life comes in a series of windows and you just went through a pretty big window with your with your difficulties with the exams but this is not the end
of the world for you it's just the beginning of a new path you're gonna feel bad for a while maybe but try to let go of that pain so that it doesn't hinder you as you move forward to your next endeavor whatever that happens to be just remember this is one of a million windows in your life and this one
may close but when that closes something another opportunity will come and and we can all sit here and guarantee that it will come yeah it's just difficult because you don't know what that is just yet yes and also when you're a young person and school is all you know we tend to feel oh what if I don't
graduate what if I don't score high in this exam and also with the examination that you just mentioned kitty it's a very that alongside the civil servants exam are seen as very important examinations challenges and hurdles to overcome for people in China because it's also connected to your next career
choice and I understand the insurmountable pressure that lays on people especially if you've put so much into it and you don't get the results you want we've all been there I think some not getting what you want but one window closes another door opens especially when you get older as I have and now
I want to look back and I realize actually there's so much more in life than school although at the crossroads it feels like it's everything yeah and like you should mentioned you know and you guys have mentioned in previous shows it's just about moving forward do anything find a job even if it's not something
that maybe we feel oh this is what I truly want to do but as long as you're not sitting here sobbing in this pile of tears believe me I've done that but instead of looking back with regret look into the future because focus on I know this is easier said than done but once you overcome that hurdle you
realize there's so much more for you to shape for you to change for you to create and that's what we can look at and think about and and Kitty we're talking to you on the very last day of 2024 I think there's so much that we can all look forward to in a brand new year starting from tomorrow yes and as
we wrap up this end of your show like you mentioned you Shen I really want to take a moment to talk to everyone out there who's feeling like Kitty those who might not have ticked off all their goals or achieved their dreams for 2024 I know it might feel like you're alone in this and believe me we've
been there too and please know we're here for you and life is not defined by one moment or achievement is that journey that counts I remember one wise man said I never lose I either win or learn so to all of you out there take a deep breath look back not with regret but with maybe wisdom for the lessons
we've learned and look ahead with hope because the story of your life is still being written and 2025 is waiting for you full of promise possibility and new beginnings and this is something that I truly wanted to share with you and if you like hearing what you heard and send us your voice memo to roundtable
podcast at qq .com we can't wait to hear from you we would like to air your audio message onto the show and then you never know what bothers you or what makes you excited might strike a chord with millions of people out there in no way that you could ever imagine and thank you so much Steve Hatherly
and you said for being on the show I'm high young we'll see you in 2025
