The very common term information fragmentation. Since graduating from high school and abandoning the time spent reading novels, it’s been a long time since I’ve sat down to read a book seriously and quietly. Sometimes when I look back, after working for so long, do I even remember what I did each year? Often, by mid-year, I’ve already forgotten many things from the first half of the year. Writing blogs is a good habit; it doesn’t matter if much of what I write isn’t public – it was originally meant to be read for myself.
My most loyal reader is myself
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Script
Everyone’s 18th birthday is like a gaze filled with anticipation and questioning. Each person occasionally asks themselves, are you the way you wanted to be back then? I worry that nowadays everyone has countless social media circles but no real friends, chatting every day but never having heartfelt conversations, acquiring endless knowledge but remaining far from wisdom. Everyone should ask themself on their 18th birthday: deceiving others is easy, but deceiving yourself is difficult!
I think everyone’s 18th birthday is like a gaze of expectation and inquiry. You can deceive others, but you can’t deceive your own 18-year-old self. Is today the way you wanted to be when you were 18? I think it’s alright. Today, there are so many things that matter more than what I thought about at 18 – material possessions, fame, and so on. I’ve gained them, but on the other hand, I’m still on the journey. When I was 18, I studied journalism at the broadcasting academy, hoping to become a journalist like Farahachi, the best. Today, I’m still on that path. That’s why people often ask me, Bai Lao (Teacher Bai), why are you still at CCTV? Because I want to be a good journalist. Journalism is still ongoing. It’s the gaze of my 18-year-old self. So I think everyone should occasionally ask their 18-year-old self: Are you living the way you wanted to back then?
This is something that truly can’t be faked. This is what I looked like when I was 18, and in the blink of an eye, 32 years have passed. Everyone who came to Beijing to go to university would have a photo like this. Back then, there were wrinkled suits on Tiananmen Square, with school badges pinned to their chests. Because there were so few college students at that time, not wearing a badge felt especially proud. My hair was long back then, but I still really like how I looked when I was 18. So many years have passed, and suddenly I realized I’m grateful for what I faced at 18 because it quietly shaped me. On May 8th, 1986, I bought a collection of Misty Poetry at the Wangfujing Bookstore. That year, I listened to Cui Jian’s “Nothing To My Name” at the Workers’ Stadium. And today, I suddenly realized that my writing style has been most influenced by Misty Poetry, rock music, and Gu Long’s martial arts novels – including my personality.
What did you experience at 18? What might you carry with you on your journey as a result? I’m particularly curious about what 18-year-olds are experiencing today. Is it like being carved by knives and axes? But what tools are they using? And what kind of shape has it molded you into? I worry that now everyone has countless social media friends but no real friends, chatting every day without anyone to confide in, with limitless access to knowledge yet so far from wisdom—knowing everything but understanding nothing. It seems like everyone is talking about individuality. But as an observer, I find that today’s young people are very much the same. What should you let him experience at 18? I really liked 1986 because it was the best way to resolve 1966.
The Cultural Revolution ended in 1976, a result of chance. It can only truly eliminate the underlying concerns if we experience enlightenment and a resurgence of humanity, along with the growth of each individual – something that happened in 1986. We still need to undergo this enlightenment, and we must further develop a thorough understanding of human nature. Regardless of how much economic progress or change occurs in Chinese society, without genuinely addressing and understanding human nature—controlling its negative aspects while activating its positive ones—there will continue to be many things that concern us. My 18-year-old experience is the same as this generation’s; we’ve strayed too far. Don’t forget why we started out, now condensed into these four characters: “Don’t lose your original intention.”
So I think no matter how far you go, everyone should ask themselves at 18 years old. It’s good to have a photo from your 18th birthday and look at it often to question yourself. What others say is useless. It’s too easy to deceive others, but deceiving yourself is very difficult. I said earlier that when I was 18, I would tell someone who is now 20 years old: you should always let your 18-year-old self be a pair of eyes watching you. And in your twenties, as I mentioned before, try opening many doors; you don’t know which one suits you best. Behind which door… It’s quite common in China now to see people in their twenties who are like elderly people, and many young people who are in their seventies.
Thank you everyone