Over Half of Young Chinese Block Parents on WeChat Moments
We all know the feeling-you want to check what someone you care about has been up to on social media, and suddenly you find you are denied access to their feeds. It’s an instant start of mixed emotions and speculations-when did this happen? Did do anything wrong? What are they attempting to hide from me?
And that’s what half of Chinese parents have to deal with when they try to browse their children’s WeChat Moments, also known as “Friends’ Circle”, as suggested by a recent survey released by Tencent, the Chinese Internet giant. According to the report, entitled Annual White Paper on Family Affection on WeChat Moments, about 52 percent of WeChat users aged 18 to 29 block their parents on Moments, a major feature on the platform that allows users to share everything they like with their WeChat contacts.
About 62 percent of the young interviewees said that parents “are neurotic about everything,” along with reasons such as fear of parents’ disapproval, rejection to parents’ nagging(唠叨), and seeking privacy. “My parents don’t know Moments very well, so I just told them I don’t use it anymore,” said Qin Jianping, a 28-year-old Xie Yun, a 26-year-old, said that while she didn’t block her parents entirely, they were in a specific group to which she only shares positive posts. “I don’t want my parents to see minor setbacks in my life, she said.
The report also found that more than 49 percent of Chinese parents use WeChat as a main channel to communicate with their children When asked how they would react to being blocked, some parents said they would initiate a conversation with their children to find out the reason, while others said they wouldn’t care. And some parents just outsmart their kids in this hide-and-seek game online. “I didn’t realize I was blocked until I compared what I could see on my phone to what my son’s aunt could see,” said Chen, a mother of a 27-year-old son. I chose to remain silent on this and now I’m following my son’s posts through his aunt.”
【小题1】Parents would like to read their children’s WeChat Moments because they _________.| A．are too emotional and speculative. |
| B．want to keep up with the trend of time. |
| C．are concerned about their children’s lives. |
| D．leave a lot of comments on their feeds. |
| A．protect their privacy. | B．learn from parents’ nagging. |
| C．challenge parental authority. | D．maintain a positive state. |
| A．criticize parents. | B．support the young. |
| C．entertain readers. | D．analyse a phenomenon. |
