Next Time I Will Read the Description
As I mentioned before, sometime in July, my dear classmate and friend, Sofia, sent me a link and asked me to participate in a program with her that will be held on three weekends. I did not read the description and just filled in the questions, as I believe my friends are fairly trustworthy and they will not try to scam me (I hope). I thought the program was associated with our university, and I did not frankly understand what I signed up for till the interview for enrollment. After listening to other interviewees, some of whom had either their own company, or hundred thousands of followers on their social media, I realized this program definitely is not related to our university. It turned out to be an "intercultural communication" program funded by one of the districts in Shanghai. Yesterday, after three weekends of predominantly boring lectures (there were a couple of hits to be fair), and an annoying "Demo Day" that was largely a humiliation ritual by the committee with some insightful remarks like "the best thing about your project was your cover art" and glazing over generative AI during each session, the program was finally over.
On the positive side, I finally had the chance to meet some really interesting people outside of the university. The gap between the coolness of the students and how irritating, pretentious, and rude some of the lecturers were was indeed absurd, and I am so pleased with having more contacts on my WeChat than before (hopefully I will see them more in person and in the future too). To be honest, I did not really speak to other students during the first two weekends, as I was busy marking students of the Chinese Culture course (a story for another day), but after the demo day, I guess there was too much to talk about. I was so honored to get positive feedback from other students, who were all evidently more educated and understanding of the so-called committee.
After my presentation and during Q&A, one of the judges, the lady with a lot of followers on her Instagram, started a back-and-forth with me. Eventually, I got bored and decided to break it off by discussing one of my favorite theories: the Device Paradigm by Albert Borgmann. In short, I believe that "serious" Instagram reels and TikTok videos that she and many others from this program are making are not truly that inspiring. Sure, there are some decent content creators here and there that push for intellectual awareness, but those platforms as a whole, work as a fast food for thought rather than something that will stay with you for a longer period and has a powerful impact. Nevertheless, I do not think one should be afraid or shy away from being a content creator on that kind of social media. My comment is strictly related to those who consider themselves highly intellectual social commentators with very deep knowledge of everything happening in the world. I do love watching aesthetic, fun, informative, or generally chill reels, and that was what I aimed for in the project we had to deliver by the end of the program. During that project, I had the chance to work on a video at a pace I am not used to only to gain some experience and work with a fully Chinese group, which was another blessing as I learned a lot from them.
All in all, the program had its own hits and misses. Theoretically or practically, I guess it was not the best thing ever, but spiritually, now I know more interesting people in Shanghai, and have worked a lot on my patience since I was so close to going insane after some of the sessions and foolish comments from certain people.
Hopefully, the next application I fill out without reading will be more engaging.