Youths chat or pay their way to adulation

Editor's Note: The latest craze among Chinese youths is "kuakua" online chat groups, especially on WeChat, whose members respond positively to whatever you say. In Chinese, kua literally means to praise. Apart from the free praise you can receive from your fellow college students or internet friends, you can also purchase "compliments" from e-commerce platforms such as Taobao. Three experts share their views on this new social craze with China Daily's Yao Yuxin. Excerpts follow:

Youths' channel to vent stress and frustration

As a kind of new sub-culture platform popular among youths, the "kuakua" phenomenon can be seen as an outlet for young people, especially those born after 1985, to give vent to their anxiety and frustration. Given the increasing difficulty in finding suitable jobs because of the slowing economy that has also affected internet companies, college graduates born after 1985 have been under a lot of pressure.

Apart from excelling in studies, present-day youths have to perform brilliantly in some other fields as well because, as the only child of the family, many of them have to fulfill the requirements of their parents, even grandparents. So they need a channel to release their stress and frustration.

But there is no need to overreact to the "kuakua" phenomenon, because it does not necessarily signal an increase in the number of youths with depression. In fact, many youths have said that by joining the group, they have experienced the joy of praising each other.

Sun Jiashan, a researcher at the Chinese National Academy of Arts

Stressed youngsters in search of praise

By praising each other, the "kuakua" group members, most of whom are university students or new entrants to the workforce, demonstrate that it is difficult to receive compliments in the real world even for doing good work.

In China, people have been traditionally reluctant to praise others. And Chinese parents and teachers tend to set very high standards for children to achieve because they believe in success and progress, and are afraid that complacency would lead to setbacks.

This makes Chinese youngsters thirsty for praise, and the internet has provided them with a platform where they can vent their frustrations and share their true feelings with their peers.

Deng Jianguo, an associate professor at Fudan Journalism School

Introduce counseling in primary schools

Those criticizing the "kuakua" groups should know that humans by nature are prone to seeking compliments. There is no reason to be worried about such youths. "Kuakua" groups can be seen as support groups whose members help each other. And it's good to see they are prepared to take embarrassment, even pain in a lighter vein.

An interesting aspect of "kuakua" groups is that its members are mostly strangers, which is contrary to the popular belief that we need encouragement and praise from family and friends, and acquaintances. So the youths are becoming members of such groups for amusement or to vent their emotions, rather than seeking concrete suggestions and help which, if true, means the groups may not have a long life.

And when it comes to certain topics, some people tend to express their feelings more freely in the virtual world rather than sharing them with even their closest friends.

Still, to ease the stress of children, counseling services should be introduced in middle schools and the children should be taught to seek help voluntarily before they are bogged down by pressure of any kind.

Gao Wenbin, a researcher at the Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences

The views don't necessarily represent those of China Daily.