Yik Yak App Causing Problems

As many are aware, the Yik Yak app is currently spreading like wildfire throughout schools across New York- and not in a good way. This social networking app allows users to post anonymous things without any accountability, and this atmosphere is meant to create a sense of safety for free speech. However, the only safety is for the users who say everything and anything and remain nameless so there is no backlash from people they may hurt or offend.

This has, unsurprisingly, created a beehive of bullying, and people can be relentless.

The nature of this app is simple: look and see what people in your area are saying both to themselves and about each other. Like it if it catches your eye, dislike it if you find it unfunny or unpleasant. Five dislikes and the Yak is deleted. No evidence. No proof that any malicious thing was said. This becomes a greater issue when cyberbullying comes into play, because victims have no concrete evidence or validation for being upset. This is exactly the problem that several students in Weedsport have faced in recent weeks.

Names are thrown around, initials are trashed and abused. You wouldn’t think that referring to only the first and last initial of someone could be so widely recognized, but in a school as small as Weedsport, people just KNOW. There’s no question. A vague reference can ruin someone’s reputation so quickly and savagely, purely because rumors fly like planes in an airport in little towns like ours.

For me, it hit home when I heard about some extremely harsh comments made about my friend. I didn’t have Yik Yak, so I looked on someone’s phone and was appalled at the awful, abusive, and highly insensitive filth posted by students in the school I grew up in.

You rarely see that stuff on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram. That’s because on those apps the bullies’ names are plastered right in front of their post, thus connecting them to their words. It’s funny, I knew exactly who had said some of those comments simply by understanding basic politics in our community, and yet I would never be able to accuse anyone or hold anyone responsible for the humiliation that more than one of my friends went through because of this needless app.

I don’t have Yik Yak on any of my devices. Friends have urged me to download it because some Yaks are funny, and it is pretty tempting, but I haven’t been able to bring myself to condone a site that allows users to attack freely with zero consequences. No one who has ever experienced bullying would blame me for not wanting to find my initials next to a scandalous rumor that I know everyone will see. I’ve seen it happen, and I don’t recommend it.