Over the course of the past few weeks, the social media app Yik Yak has taken the Georgia College campus by storm. Yik Yak is a smartphone app where people can post messages anonymously. The app works off of the phone’s GPS location.
In order to truly understand the fascination with Yik Yak, I installed it on my phone for a week and periodically checked the posts. I was appalled, humored, and surprised by what some people said.
“No sleep, stress and lots of money to earn a piece of paper with your name on it. Can anyone forge a diploma?” was one of the more humorous things I read.
The main thing that separates Yik Yak from Twitter and other social media is the anonymous posting. Through anonymous posting, people get a sense of freedom. What they say does not have any strings or responsibilities connected to it. This gives people the freedom to say things they normally wouldn’t say out loud. This includes derogatory comments, rants, complaints, and the occasional blind date invitation.
Anonymity is intriguing in many ways, but the problem with not facing consequences for your actions is that it can easily get out of hand.
“To people b******* about those who call it Saga, please understand that to us, Saga is a part of our school’s history and dates back to even before us. We don’t have a lot of tradition, but we do have that.”
That is a common innocent defensive post for older Georgia College students who are known to call the Max “Saga”. What causes this post to blow out of proportion is the comments others made on the post:
“Are you a f****** idiot?”
“Hey dumba** do you know it’s named after Maxwell? History lesson from a freshman b****!”
While the original post is something an older student would possibly say in person with their name attached to it, the comments are completely hostile and I don’t think anyone would reply in that manner right away if they had to take responsibility for it.
Whatever happened to the lesson our parents taught us saying, “If you don’t have something nice to say, then don’t say anything at all”? Yik Yak promotes a full-on venting session where everyone can say what they want and get rid of their anger. It is a breeding ground for internet trolls and hateful people. On the other hand, not everything posted on Yik Yak is mean.
“Dear guy a few seats back in my GC1Y in the blue sweater. You are gorgeous, and I am unfortunately too shy to say anything, but hello.”
Yik Yak is for the shy people who too scared to say anything to their crush. It is for the people who just want to go out on a date, so they choose a random stranger. Their acts are harmless compared to others. Yik Yak gives them a way to express themselves anonymously.
I’m not going to lie, while investigating Yik Yak, I got the urge to post rants. I got the urge to complain about teachers. I was surprised that an app that is so simple managed to draw me in. Being anonymous is a downward spiral where people forget that their words have weight with what they say. Anonymity is a beautiful thing in some cases, but when it comes to social media apps, it turns ugly. That is why I didn’t post any and won’t post any “Yaks.”
The saddest thing I read on Yik Yak during the week was a comment someone said to a poster complaining about why people won’t take responsibility for what their saying on Yik Yak. The commenter said, “Welcome to our generation.” If that is where our generation is going, I’m not very optimistic about our future.