Confessions of a UCC Student: An Interview with UCC Confessions
By Claire Watson
From anonymous admissions of love, to an on-going battle between humanities and science, nothing paints a clearer picture of UCC’s students, like UCC’s confessions. We are a shameless, vocal bunch, and when given the opportunity to spill the tea on whatever is going on in our lives, spilling is what we’ll do. Did you spend your summer scrolling through the account, counting down the days to its return? Do you and your friends get together, just to sit around a phone looking for your favourites? I have to admit, I’ve spent many lectures simply scrolling through this Instagram page, so I was delighted to have the opportunity to sit down (over text, of course) and interview UCC’s beloved, and somewhat infamous, UCC Confessions.
So, how did this account begin?
“I noticed there was a lack of any sort of UCC pages compared to the likes of, say, Trinder for Trinity or UCD Confessions, and then the page UCC Affirmations popped up, which I followed pretty early on. They mentioned they had thought about making a confessions page originally, so I decided to take the plunge and do it. I’ve always liked organising things and ‘being on the inside’ so it made sense I guess. I will say, it’s not my first time running a page of this size, though how quickly it grew definitely surprised me.”
What would you say, if any, is the purpose of this account?
“There’s no purpose to the account, really. If I had to come up with one now though, I think it's become a sort of community page for people. Yes - the main reason people look at the confessions is to have a bit of a laugh and whatnot, but over time it’s become a go-to for students to ask questions and seek advice when they’re not sure where else to go. Or post lost and found items, as we’ve all seen.”
What is your process?
“Usually I let the confessions build up for a few days, maybe a week. Last year, at a peak, there could be over 300 confessions submitted in one week. I read through them every so often to see what’s been submitted, and respond to anything that would be better for my story rather than an actual post. When I’m going through them to decide what will be posted, I delete the ones I’m not keeping, so just what is to be posted is left in the form. Then it’s just a case of copying and pasting into my editing app to create the format for the post. When there’s a lot of posts I like to spread out posting them, so I’ll post maybe 10-20 every few hours after making them. Of course, the biggest task is making sure I actually stay on task considering I have the attention span of a toddler.”
How has running this account impacted your college experience?
It hasn’t had any massive impact on my college time, other than the time commitment to running it. But it’s in smaller ways, I suppose, like hanging out with my friends to discuss it and such. My housemates last year all ended up knowing I ran the page and sometimes we would end up sitting in our kitchen and I would read out some of the ones submitted that hadn’t been posted, or they’d read through the newly posted ones and we’d talk about the ones that stood out to them most. Or, just people’s reactions when they were told - I don’t want to say starstruck, but there’s definitely been some shocked reactions, and it’s always funny.”
Do you think this account has changed your perspective on your fellow students?
“I wouldn’t say changed, so much as confirmed much of what I already knew. Maybe it has given me a kinder view on them, as I see how much people are willing to reach out and help others when they need it. I think we don’t realise how much even strangers are ready to help each other.”
Has your anonymity led people to make assumptions about and create their own image of you?
“People definitely have their own ideas of me, though what those are I don’t entirely know, and I’m not sure if I want to. I have had different people message me about how their friends think that they run the page, which is always funny.”
Do you have any examples of such assumptions?
“People seem very convinced I do arts because I have ‘a lot of time on my hands.’ Neither of which are true. I get the arts assumption in person too though, so clearly it’s just something about me.”
Do you think you’ll ever make your identity known, whether now or in 50 years?
“I really don’t know. It’s something I’ve thought about a lot in my head and kind of weighed the pros and cons of. I definitely won’t be revealing my identity anytime soon, if I was to do it I think it would be right at the end of my time in UCC. A fair few people do know my identity at this point, and I have no doubt that number will grow, but for now I’m pretty content with my relative anonymity.”
Do you moderate submissions in any way?
“On a basic level, I have the rules of no hate speech and such, which I think is just a given for any of the university confession pages. I don’t post anything with people’s names, but other than that it’s just a case of filtering what will and won’t be posted. I’ve never had anything insanely hateful sent into the confessions, so there’s never really been any issue of major moderation.”
Have you had any run-ins with UCC over this account or something that happened as a result of this account?
“Not so far, and I hope to keep it that way. I don’t think UCC would have any issue with it, but you never know. The closest it’s been is my course directors making a reference to it, which caught me off guard but that was in a big group setting and so just coincidence really. It was funny, once I got over the initial shock.”
Have there been any submissions or interactions that have stood out to you, good or bad, since launching this account?
“At this point there’s been so many it’s hard to pinpoint any one. At one point, around the time of the college balls I think, there were a number of posts about particular people, specifically ‘blue haired boy’ and ‘golden dress girl,’ which have just turned into complete jokes between my friends. Other than that, I think the Comedy Society page shipping me and UCC Affirmations in the first day or so of starting this page was pretty funny.”
Overall, has running this account been an enjoyable experience?
“Definitely, I think even without helping people through the page, the interactions with other students, seeing jokes form between friends, and helping add to the community atmosphere in UCC have all been such a positive thing. I’m only mildly traumatised by some of the submissions.”
Has this account taught you anything about UCC and its students?
“The student population is very… eccentric at times and needs to remember that people read the things they’re submitting. Have some shame, please. But they’re also very helpful and ready to give information and advice when needed.”
And just one more, is there anything you’d like to tell students, radio rebel style?
“Be kind, help out your fellow students when you can, enjoy your time in college and for the benefit of your housemates, wash your dishes!”
It was a pleasure to talk to the person behind the page, and shine a light on their experience of running the account. I could ramble for ages about how humans are social creatures and just love any opportunity to talk, but at the end of the day we’re shameless gossips who love to cause a little bit of chaos, either on campus or online. Everyone’s got something to get off their chest, or at least, some crazy story that is undeniably untrue (I’m looking at you, long-skirt in the creative zone), and confessions are the perfect outlet. Whether you’ve submitted, been a character in a confession, you’re a supporter or a hater, everyone’s guilty of scrolling through the account.