Internet addict parents, crazy chopping hands in the live broadcast room

Shynrancaijing original

Author | Tang Yahua

Edit | dawn

"Mother is addicted to shopping in the live broadcast room, bought home Hetian jade and gold with appraisal certificates, and the express boxes are piled up" "My dad bought things for 99 yuan in the live broadcast room, I found 9.9 yuan on the e-commerce platform, my dad said that I found a fake" "How can I stop my parents from 'chopping hands', I want to call the police"...

Internet addicted old people, crazy may surpass adolescent young people.

"Three no" daily necessities, health care products, jade hand-string paintings are piled up at home, and there are many netizens who are driven crazy by their parents' frequent "chopping hands" in the live broadcast room.

In order to "save" addicted parents, children have also done everything they can to obstruct, go to the live broadcast room to leave reminders, report the live broadcast room, restrict parents' payment methods, set teen mode, forcibly prevent parents from placing orders, and even some people want to take their parents to find the anchor in person, but the parents' shopping energy has only increased.

What kind of live broadcast makes the elderly so high?

The twists and turns of the bizarre homemade small theater, celebrity anecdotes, wealth and health lecture halls are basically the hardest hit areas for the elderly. Health care products, jewelry and jade, paid courses, daily necessities, etc., as long as a low-priced, welfare hat is installed, it can easily hit some elderly people.

The helpless young man asked, "How can I save my parents?" ”

Parents are addicted to live shopping, and the "antique calligraphy and paintings" at home are piled up

This Spring Festival, Xiaofei, who returned to his hometown in Harbin, found that there were many jade, calligraphy and painting, and ceramic vases stacked in their two houses, Xiaofei was shocked, and his mother showed the so-called famous paintings and antiques she had purchased, "My mother said that these things are worth more than ten million, because something happened in the boss's house, so it was only a few hundred yuan to deal with at a low price." If you can find a good channel to sell, you can buy a suite in Beijing. Xiaofei felt angry and funny when he heard it.

At home for 7 days during the Spring Festival, Xiaofei noticed that her mother was watching the live broadcast of the emotional anchor on the video number all the time, which staged various twists and turns and bizarre stories, including anchors helping people to peace, rescuing hostages, tracking victims, or connecting fans to mediate family disputes, helping her husband's cheating wife catch mistress, and the "dog blood" plot is constant.

Roughly estimated, Xiaofei's mother bought fifty or sixty things, most of the unit price was within 1,000 yuan, one or two hundred yuan, and the cost was at least more than 10,000.

"One of the 'antique' paintings in my mother's mouth, the seams between the patterns are very neat, obviously made by machines, I swept the same model on Taobao, selling it for 190 yuan," Xiaofei asked her mother how much she sold and replied that it was 185 yuan, "I don't know if she is trying to cope with the price I made, at least it means that it is definitely not an antique." ”

Another painting that has not yet opened the express box, the delivery address is Yiwu, Zhejiang, Xiaofei told his mother that this is an ordinary imitation of Yiwu's small commodity production base, not a collection that the boss encountered difficulties and let people pick up, but Xiaofei's mother said that the live broadcast room explained that the boss was in Yiwu.

Lina in Wuhan usually does not live with her parents, and several times after returning home, she woke up at two or three o'clock in the morning to find that her father was still watching Kuaishou live broadcast. She watched it a few times and found that it was all stories with similar routines. For example, the rich boss cheats, the anchor helps the original match to catch the junior to compete for the inheritance, and every time it is broadcast to the end, he will sell something, claiming that the original price of tens of thousands of yuan is only sold for a few hundred yuan.

"My dad has two mobile phones, takes turns to fully charge every day, watch live broadcasts day and night and go on a shopping spree", Lina has seen some health products that her father bought back, and some of the packaging only says "XX oral liquid", and there is no information such as manufacturers and ingredients.

What Lina's father bought / Photo courtesy of interviewee

She also had all kinds of jade beads, bracelets, rings, necklaces, and magnetic clothes bought back by her parents, many of which had not even been opened by the courier box, and Lina asked her father what she had not bought back for, and her father said that it was to help others.

Once, Lina saw her mother buy a set of skin care products for more than three hundred yuan, the name was completely unheard, she called the phone on the box, and no one answered. "After many things are bought, the link does not exist, the anchor has changed the number, and there is no place to find someone after the sale."

Rong Rong's parents, who are nearly 60 years old, have been watching Kuaishou live and shopping together for more than a year.

They bought more "health care products", there are a variety of oral liquids, "pills", because it is an entrance thing, Rong Rong is particularly anxious, she found that some "health care products" packaging says XX oral liquid, XX pills, but the lower right corner with a particularly small font is written is fruit drinks, compressed candy, many are not health care products at all, let alone medicine, parents still feel that it can have an effect on the body.

"My mother also bought a pendant and a bracelet, two spent nearly 2,000 yuan, claiming to be natural stone, can bless the whole family, I specially found someone to do an appraisal, the other party said that it was made of ceramics, very cheap", Rong Rong asked for a return, and his mother insisted.

Screenshots of some of the shopping orders of Rong Rong's parents / Photo provided by interviewee

Some elderly people always firmly believe in their own judgment, and some parents realize that they are being tricked too late.

Li Zhengzhong is 64 years old this year and often plays the Douyin Extreme version. Some time ago, he brushed a live broadcast where a anchor taught people to make money on Douyin accounts, and the anchor said that he could help make avatars, accounts, teach editing videos, hang up commodity links, and earn hundreds of yuan a day, and a guaranteed income of 6,600 yuan a month.

According to him, after watching the live broadcast, a staff member contacted him to apply for a course, 5999 yuan of the course, only 2999 yuan after the discount, promised to refund within 10 days without reason. They will also give away Douyin account traffic and fans, and it won't take long to earn back the tuition, which makes Li Zhengzhong's heart surging.

After paying, he found that the course was to talk about some knowledge of making short videos and bringing goods, there were many professional terms, and he did not understand the content of the lecture at all with a low level of education, and he found the teacher for a refund. The teacher prevaricated for various reasons, and every morning and afternoon, the teacher sent him a link to a lesson. Later, Li Zhengzhong opened the contract when applying for the course and found that it said that the fee that had already started the course should be deducted when refunding, 99 yuan per session, the service fee was 299 yuan, and 20% of the total course liquidated damages.

Until the 7th day, the teacher had sent Li Zhengzhong a link to 13 lessons, seeing that the matter could not be solved, Li Zhengzhong told his niece, after some communication, the other party agreed to settle, after deducting the above fees, only 804 yuan of 2999 yuan was left to be refunded.

"Our older people are indeed a little easy to be instigated, in recent years, I feel that the era of short videos is coming, and the anchor is too easy to make money with goods, I am very yearning for those promoted by the anchor, thinking that if I can do it, I am better than my peers, and I also look very powerful in front of everyone, and I was pitted." Li Zhengzhong said.

The children's fancy obstruction did not work

Parents are addicted to watching live broadcasts and shopping, and their children are anxious after knowing it, and they think of various ways to dissuade their parents.

"I have clicked complaints and reports in the live broadcast room, sometimes it is useless, sometimes it is suspended for a while and then rebroadcast, some numbers are banned or blocked, and you can rebroadcast it immediately with a different number, and the anchor also told fans that it was the enemy family who came to report, which made parents and anchors more united." Xiaofei said.

In order to stop her parents, Lina went to the live broadcast room to watch these people's routines, and once, she left a message saying, "Just now, this girl is called Xiaoyu, why is she called Xiaohong again?" You guys are obviously deceptive", and the other party replied that "the anchor is very busy and accidentally called the wrong name". Lina continued to swipe the screen in the live broadcast room to accuse the anchor of deceiving the elderly with the "three no" product, and was banned after saying a few words.

Forced to be anxious, Lina wanted to take her father to personally find the anchor he often watched, "I told my dad that you ask where the anchor is, let's buy a ticket to go to the scene to see where he broadcasts and how to help people, my dad said, people run all over the country." Once taking advantage of her father's lack of attention, Lina adjusted his live broadcast APP to teen mode, her father got the mobile phone and found that he couldn't see that kind of live broadcast, Lina kindly said that it was the platform rectification and banned those, "As a result, my father himself registered a new number overnight and started watching it again."

Later, Lina took away her father's salary card and only gave some pocket money every month, her father used pocket money to buy, sometimes there was no money, so he asked Lina if she could transfer a few hundred yuan to buy something, and the live broadcast room was about to be robbed.

Rong Rong and his mother quarreled countless times because of watching the live broadcast to buy things. "Unbound my mother's bound bank card, she bought it with WeChat, the password of WeChat was changed, and she bought it again with my father's mobile phone, which used to be bought in an honest manner, but now it is secretly bought."

There are also children who have tried their best to prevent their parents from placing orders once or twice, but parents still recognize the anchor and the products recommended by them from the bottom of their hearts, and the risk of continuing to indulge in the future still worries their children.

Bingbing's mother Li Mei is 61 years old this year, and she watches more live broadcasts telling celebrity anecdotes, singing songs and selling goods on the video number. She was attracted by the free Chinese Studies course recommended by the anchor in one of the live broadcast rooms, transferred to the WeChat group, and listened to the "I Ching" and divination related courses in the WeChat group every night from 8 to 12 pm every night for a week, and on the last day, the "teacher" began to introduce the offline course with the original price of 890,000 yuan, which can be purchased online for 9,800 yuan. According to the "teacher", if you learn to predict the bad luck of your own family, predict the direction of stocks, and make money for divination for others, you can earn thousands of yuan in a single piece.

"She was moved on the spot, usually she has to save a few cents for buying vegetables, and at this time, she waved her hand and said that she was willing to spend money to sign up." Bingbing told her that these were all "routines", but her mother insisted on reporting it, and later Bingbing found her father and brother, and a group of people persuaded and criticized her before pulling her mother back.

But buying a "wool sweater" for 39 yuan, a jacket for 79 yuan, and a sausage for more than 100 yuan in the live broadcast room, Bingbing's mother is doing it every day.

"Although my family didn't let me sign up to study the I Ching, I still think that the course taught by the anchor is the best course I have ever heard, and that subject is also very useful, 9800 yuan can learn 6 courses, not expensive at all, and it will be useful a lot after learning." Li Mei said. In Bingbing's view, her mother has not yet realized that those live broadcast contents are carefully designed by anchors to sell goods or courses.

Wen Yuan, who lives in Qingdao, has always known that his mother often shops in the live broadcast room and has not interfered. Last year, my mother had colitis surgery and recovered more slowly and was in constant pain. Recently, her mother suddenly said that she was going to see a doctor in a traditional Chinese medicine hospital in Shijiazhuang, and Wen Yuan learned that her mother learned about this hospital while watching a live broadcast on Douyin, saying that this hospital has a patented drug that has a good effect on colitis. And the mother has followed the instructions in the live broadcast to take Chinese medicine for 6 months, spending tens of thousands of yuan, and the mother herself feels that it has an effect, so colitis committed again after the "yang" a few years ago, and decided to go to this hospital to see a doctor.

Wen Yuan searched the Internet and found that many netizens were saying that this hospital pits the elderly, and some netizens found after going that many elderly people had watched Douyin in the past, and some people spent 8,000 yuan a week on treatment, but the disease was not cured.

"When I learned that she was going to such a hospital, I was so angry that I couldn't speak. She took medicine for 6 months without telling me, who knows what ingredients it is, and even if I don't take medicine for 6 months, my body may be able to recover. Wen Yuan said.

Wen Yuan then tried his best to stop his mother and made an appointment for her colonoscopy in a regular hospital. "Although I stopped it temporarily, my mother is still obsessed, I sent her netizens, she still said that she wanted to give it a try." Just like being caught in an evil, the six relatives do not recognize it, so they recognize what is said on the live broadcast. ”

Why do the elderly sell goods live?

It is useless for children to block, parents still do not stop even if they have learned a lesson, what is the magic of live broadcast sales?

Shen Ran noticed that there are usually two logics for anchors to switch from "small theaters" to selling goods: one is to punish the bad guys and let fans snap up the bad guys' things at a low price, such as the "mistress" who was caught has a factory, and the anchor team enters the other party's system background, selling things at a low price of several thousand things, calling on fans to buy goods to make her "lose money"; The other is the distress of good people, such as the bankruptcy of factory owners, the difficulty of rich women, etc., and the anchor calls on fans to buy things to help people.

The goods sold by these anchors are also very distinctive. One category is health care products, the older the elderly pay more attention to health, which makes them most likely to enter the pit of this type of live broadcast; The second category is jewelry, jade, calligraphy and painting, bead strings, Buddha statues, in the eyes of many people, this type of things have collectible value, can be passed down from generation to generation, some with some superstitious colors to bless the family, once there is a so-called "leakage" opportunity, the elderly are easy to be fooled; The third category is daily necessities, this type of consumables that can be used daily, compared with the price of offline and other e-commerce platforms, the live broadcast room can attract the elderly by giving certain discounts.

These live broadcast rooms focus on the health-conscious and compassionate characteristics of the elderly. Things are not expensive and do not exceed the level of daily consumption. In addition, things such as health products and jewelry and jade have different prices in the market, and it is difficult to protect rights.

Dou Donghui, a professor of psychology at the Central University of Finance and Economics, analyzed that the elderly are sensitive to price, as long as they give an imaginary "original price" and "discount" price, it will make the elderly have the illusion of "picking up cheap". In addition, the elderly lack online shopping experience and are more likely to believe the words of the anchor.

Again, the atmosphere created by these live broadcast rooms is also very attractive to the elderly. Deep Burn entered a live broadcast room according to the account provided by the interviewee, at about 0 o'clock in the evening, the live broadcast room was selling a lotus Buddha hand statue for 499 yuan, and the anchor was explaining the introduction, "Parents and mothers, I want you to be healthy and healthy, the blessings are getting bigger and bigger, my son told you, buy this thing, the luck of the elderly, the career of the young, and the schoolwork of the children will turn around." This represents many children, more wealth and more happiness", the anchor also said with a sincere expression from time to time: "You and I are not relatives more like relatives", and at the same time advised the elderly to "buy it, don't shoot, hide it in your own home, and protect these things." ”

Dou Donghui pointed out that most of the elderly are in the "empty nest period", there is a stronger need for social belonging psychologically, the live broadcast room creates a virtual space, the title of "family", the same age and the same enthusiasts gather to form an atmosphere, so that the elderly have emotional sustenance, and the purchase behavior has become a "participation certificate" to strengthen identity. In addition, the reason why the elderly can highly trust the anchor is because they have more free time to reside in the live broadcast room, and the pure exposure effect (because they are familiar and like) is easy to trust and rely on the anchor.

Many young people analyzed their parents' addiction to live shopping, and unanimously believed that as children, they did not have more time to spend with their parents, and they had certain responsibilities; In addition, the short videos and live broadcasts that are now popular are indeed easy to immerse people in, and some of the fringe live streaming methods urgently need platform regulatory constraints.

And the elderly who are addicted to it, even if they feel that something is wrong later, they are unwilling to admit it because of their face, do not tell their families that they have suffered a dumb loss, and condone similar routines again and again in disguise.

Lina told Shen Ran that once his father bought a jade that looked relatively large in the live broadcast, but the goods received were very small, Lina saw her father in the anchor's live broadcast room and asked, "Why did I send me a small one", no one paid attention to him, Lina's father explained that "there are too many people watching the live broadcast, and the anchor did not have time to reply to the fans", and then the matter was closed.

Li Zhengzhong mentioned, "I bought a 999 yuan bracelet, the anchor said that the original price was 30,000 yuan, wearing a face, and it can be passed on to children and grandchildren in the future, and said that this is a return for fans, and I was impressed at that time." But half a year later, Li Zhengzhong found the exact same 100 yuan three strings at an exhibition, "I realized that I was indeed tricked, and I never bought anything like it again." I also bought a blueberry health supplement, saying that people who often look at their mobile phones eat it for their eyes, 100 yuan 3 boxes, in fact, there is no effect. Although I thought I had some experience, this time I encountered a class seller, and I still entered the pit again. ”

When encountering such a thing, Li Zhengzhong has always been embarrassed to say to his daughter, "I am a very smart person in everyone's mind, how can I be embarrassed to say it if I am deceived." But I haven't been able to solve it myself, I can't eat well or sleep well recently, and my blood pressure is a little high. ”

As children, what can be done is to help the elderly transfer their interests, spend more time on outdoor activities, communication with others and real-world interaction, popularize more scientific and formal information channels to the elderly, better identify product information, and remind the elderly in time with the help of the cases of financial and mental losses caused by the elderly because of their addiction to online shopping.

*The title image and the accompanying picture in the text are from Visual China. At the request of the interviewees, Xiaofei, Lina, Rong Rong, Bingbing, Li Mei, Wen Yuan, and Li Zhengzhong are pseudonyms in the text.