A few months ago, my manager looks at his phone and chuckles. I ask him, “What is it?” He responds, “This yak on Yik Yak!”
I had never heard of Yik Yak, so he proceeded to tell me what the app was: a local, anonymous Twitter. Within the hour, everyone at work had downloaded the app and was laughing over hilarious “yaks.” For a few weeks, I was consistently checking the app during class. It was entertaining to hear from hundreds of students in the FSU community. Shortly, Yik Yak was being talked about all over campus. From unknown, to entering daily conversation, the app’s popularity on FSU’s campus grew larger than any other app I can recall. Whisper has a similar premise, but Yik Yak obviously perfected the college gossip strategy.
While most of the yaks were entertaining and humorous, it was only so long before anonymity lent itself to crudeness. Some yaks were racist and some explicitly singled out girls on campus, saying what sexual acts a particular girl would do for any guy willing. Yaks of that nature could have easily taken over. Luckily, FSU’s users don’t “up-vote” those derogatory statements, the yak disappears, and the medium remains pure entertainment and not an avenue for cyber bullying.
At other universities, Yik Yak has had harmful consequences. Threats posted without fear of repercussion sparked requests to ban Yik Yak at Clemson University, University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, Michigan State University, Penn State University, University of Georgia, Indiana State University, and several others. Many universities are attempting to block the app off their WiFi networks to remedy the situation. Women from across the country have left their schools due to being personally attacked on the app.
Source: WSOCTV.com
As I read all of the open cases against Yik Yak, I couldn’t help but think about FSU’s shooting this year at Strozier. At the time, I had checked the news for hours trying to get information. It took three hours for a local news source to post something online about the shooting. Every piece of information I got was from students inside and outside of the library… who were posting on Yik Yak. The college gossip app turned into a source of immediate news that night. Where the media was failing to provide coverage, this frivolous app meant solely for entertainment was doing something wonderful for the FSU community: providing news. It made me wonder if this is what traditional media would evolve into.
Source: NBC News
Although the potential is there for the app to cause real damage, I think FSU’s usage of the social media platform is admirable compared to other schools. I hope it stays that way.
Another social gossip app that has emerged recently is the Yeti-Campus Stories. It’s a Snapchat for FSU students, with anonymity intact. A friend of mine mentioned it the other day, when she texted her roommate saying she had a great idea to put on Yeti. What followed was a video celebrating Easter: a twerking a** that laid an egg. An egg was lost, cracked, but a thousand “likes” were gained. We laughed hysterically, but then she showed me all of the other photos and videos in the feed.
I downloaded the app and got my fair share of a** and boobs. Really, it was blush-worthy. I was embarrassed to be going through the feed in public for fear of someone looking over my shoulder. What bothered me the most were the pictures guys had taken of girls without their knowledge, faces included, with the caption, “Pre smash” or “Post smash,” signifying the moments before or after the couple supposedly had sex. I even witnessed a photo captioned, “Mid smash,” documenting private acts inside the bedroom that I had no right to be peeking in on. Some honorary douche bag made the executive decision to invite thousands of other students into the bedroom to watch him and his partner having sex and I can bet you it was posted without her consent.
There’s no filter. Even if it’s meant to be all in good fun, this app could cause real, serious damage to someone’s reputation and well-being.
So is the college gossip app harmless entertainment until the wrong person gets a hold of it and ruins it for everyone else? Our generation is so concerned with the amount of “likes” we get, but when does that desire for virtual attention go too far? The fleeting satisfaction people receive from the “likes” doesn’t make up for the hateful comments, irreparable damage on the students around us, and ultimately the harm these gossip apps can do to the campus and community. Free speech allows these gossip apps to exist, but we must use them responsibly with good hearts and compassion.