Recently, there have been a lot of rumors that have started and circulated around because of the anonymous social media app, YikYak. Here at Longwood, many students and faculty members use YikYak to stay caught up on what’s happening at the university or to post their thoughts about whatever they want. Because the posts are made by anonymous accounts, there’s a lot said on the app that can be questionable, and more than often it turns into a rumor that goes around the school for a couple of days.
I first learned about YikYak when I first came to Longwood, and I was very intrigued by it because there seemed to be so much information that got passed through the app. I quickly learned that a lot of the information is fake and is mostly just people trying to get a reaction from others. Since the posts are anonymous, many people who post feel like they can say whatever they want without facing any consequences. Being able to post while anonymous makes the person posting feel like they can say anything they want, about anyone they want, since their name isn’t attached to the post itself. On the app, there is a lot of cyber-bullying, harassment, and threats that happen, and the bully’s never gets punished because it doesn’t get reported and it takes a lot of work to connect the anonymous account to the actual person posting. YikYak allows its users to post pictures as well, which has led to many people getting posted without their consent. Many colleges have banned YikYak through their Wifi and campus servers to try and illuminate some of the issues that YikYak brings onto the campus.
In the last couple of weeks, many rumors have started here at Longwood because of YikYak. One student makes a post, and all of a sudden everyone is talking about this issue that isn’t actually happening. Even when Longwood sends out emails about the issues, students continue to post on YikYak, making it seem like the issue isn’t resolved or is bigger than it actually is. This, very quickly, becomes an issue because it causes students, and sometimes parents, to panic, and leads people to believe that the school isn’t properly communicating. I think the idea of having an app like YikYak where people can post things to stay updated is nice and can be useful; however, adding the anonymous aspect to it allows it to create trouble and panic throughout a university and gives people more power to post false information, misleading many others.
With the recent issues that YikYak has created in the past weeks, I don’t think it would be a bad idea for there to be some restrictions on the app. Since my freshman year at Longwood, I have heard about so many different rumors that have started on the app, and it seems to just be getting worse as the years progress. YikYak allows for an environment where bullying, harassment, and making threats is okay to do, especially since the person posting can stay anonymous and there are normally no consequences for the person posting. It can be fun to scroll on the app and read the different posts made, but there is more negative that comes from the app than positive, reassuring my idea that YikYak can be dangerous.