Yik Yak and the comfort of being anonymous

Facebook college groups, Instagram college meme pages… none of these are new. I saw and interacted with them in high-school. I expected nothing else from college. What I did not expect was Yik Yak and how comfortable people feel being mean when hidden behind the veil of anonymity.

Yik Yak is a social media platform only available in the United States, and so far only accessible on iOS software, and users can join the online version of the communities they find themselves in. For most young adults, this is the college or university they attend, and like Reddit, user posts are kept anonymous.

At first, the concept of Yik Yak left a sour taste inmy mouth. If in other social media pages moderated by an exclusive number of people existed hurtful content, a platform where everyone can write and not have a face to attach to the words could only be much worse. I then tried to be more positive and see the brighter side: a platform where students can inform each other of ongoing events or safety threats without putting themselves at risk. And then I realized this information would only be available to iPhone users, creating a digital and social divide.

“I have an Android so I don’t have the app, otherwise I would have downloaded it. But whenever someone shows me a post it is mostly fun,” said freshman Christopher Solonowicz.

My opinion on Yik Yak remains under assessment. In an ideal world, there would be no need for anonymous social media platforms, but since we do not live in a perfect world, these types of platforms can come in aid when people are scared of their opinions having some sort of backlash. However, there are levels of using freedom of speech to express concern, and using it to hurt others.

So far, the majority of posts are about amusing happenings around campus, and it seems like Yik Yak is a fairly healthy space. However, in recent conversations with friends, I have realized opinions regarding the app vary quite a lot. While some find it entertaining, others have raised concerns for how it shows an almost unrecognizable social side of the College, and some have mixed feelings about the platform.

“The idea of forums is really cool but it has to be well implemented, and unfortunately on Yik Yak it seems to show a reality of Lake Forest that we don’t see around campus,” first-year Lucas Gaspar said. “People are usually really nice but then they will take pictures of others, post them and make fun of that person.” 

In a college with approximately 1800 students where most people can recognize each other, these comments might hurt closer to home. From calling others out for their looks, trolling peers looking for help, to straight up “beefing” with someone on a thread, etc, it seems that the side of Lake Forest College students hidden by societal constraints comes out. Almost as if they would never interact with the subject of their post again.

“There seem to be two types of people on Yik Yak: The ones that really like to make fun of others, and the ones who post funny content, and there is also posts about unnecessary things that no one really needs to see, which makes me wonder if there should be some sort of censorship, even if I don’t agree with that,” first-year Karina Kurdziel said.” “Although others can be a bit cruel or harsh in their wording, I feel that YikYak is a better place to outsource negative energy or vent.”

“Yik Yak is a very fun platform to go see what others are saying, but we need to be more mindful of what information we are sharing, its’ accuracy,” first-year Domenica Baquerizo said. “Other things can be miscarried if not handled with discernment. I mostly see it as very insightful and fun resource to know what is going around college.”

Of course that amongst some of the less desirable comments, there are rays of sunshine complementing their peers or using the platform in a more ethical way. Fortunately, from my assessment, these surpass the negative posts. Yik Yak can be a lot of fun when its content is more focused on spreading positivity, hyping each other and easing college-induced stress by sharing amusing content amongst others. 

In the end, we all have things we want to say and feel more comfortable doing so anonymously, be it a joke or a complaint about the institution, but we should strive to keep on being positive and foster healthy online spaces.