Gabriel Benjamin ‘28
benjamingje@lakeforest.edu
Staff Writer
I believe I was introduced to Yik Yak about a month into my time here at the college. It was a conversation between a couple of friends when someone happened to casually mention something they’d seen on there. Not wanting to be left out of some part of campus culture, I was quick to download the app for myself and made sure to check it consistently. Now, I think I forget that it even exists most of the time.
I’d say it’s good riddance not to think about Yik Yak. The more I look at it, the more it feels like a cesspool of lame jokes and arguments. I feel like when I occasionally go to check Yik Yak it’s more disappointing than anything else. At best, one can find overly edgy humor, random complaints, and even more random political arguments. At worst, using Yik Yak feels like talking to a guy whose jokes are all “dark comedy.” Who could’ve thought that making an anonymous, Reddit-esque site full of only college students would be a bad idea?
People, in fact, did. Yik Yak has faced a slew of criticism over the years, even becoming defunct for four years. The app started in 2013, and quickly grew in popularity through 2014. The app was designed to facilitate community among college students, allowing them to create discussion threads in a five-mile radius. Despite these good intentions, Yik Yak quickly faced criticism for allowing racism, homophobia, antisemitism, sexism, and cyberbullying to run rampant. Students were harassed endlessly, racist threads were made, and people came close to self-harm. These critiques led to stagnation, and Yik Yak was shut down in 2017. Unfortunately, Yik Yak received $6.25 million in funding and was set back up.
In 2023, Yik Yak returned with the promise of cleaning itself up and removing the hatred. So, where is Yik Yak at right now? If you’re looking for a discussion among the most annoying people on campus, you can find it there. I said it and I’m not sorry – I’m sick of the weirdos on Yik Yak. I feel like the best thing I can hope to see is somebody making fun of some random athletic team, or I can see another person talk about how excited they are to go to a bar for the millionth time. At the end of the day, it’s just not worth it to go on.
At worst, Yik Yak is really a gross, awful place. People love to pick fights anonymously, and Yik Yak is full of adults yelling at each other through their screens. It’s a bunch of people who randomly decided to hate international students one day, and then constant arguments about the presidential debate next. While I love to see people express their opinions and have their voices heard, I struggle to think about a less productive place to do it than Yik Yak.
In conclusion, I think it’s time to move on from Yik Yak. It’s 2024, people. Let’s go outside! Let’s meet new people in our classes and in the library! I think we’ve moved past Reddit knockoffs and trying to start fights online. We’ve moved past edgy humor and having the same political conversations again and again.
But, don’t let me stop you. You can live your life however you want. I just think that we can do more with our time. The more friends I hang out with on campus, the less I feel the urge to go on Yik Yak. At first, I thought that this might have been a coincidence, but as time goes on, I feel like it’s not. There’s so much more out there than a website made to facilitate your worst behavior – go out and find it.
