JAKOB LUCAS, Sports Editor —
This school year has seen the popular app “Yik Yak” return to campus with quite the splash. Day after day, students flood the feed with hundreds of random and/or nonsensical messages.
For those unfamiliar with Yik Yak, as impossible as it might seem on the Hill, it is an app that allows users to post messages and comment on other messages completely anonymously within a five-mile radius. The app doesn’t even require users to create an account. People are identified only by an emoji, which can be changed at any time.
It’s easy to see why such an idea gained a massive user-base, especially on college campuses.
Denison Yik Yak is largely filled with what you would expect from college students. Complaints about classes and food, discussion of campus happenings, random words of encouragement, jokes (some quite unfunny and tasteless) and just random messages in general.
Despite the constant randomness of the platform, it has a certain appeal and even wholesomeness to it. For example, ‘Headphones’ is quick to voice their discontent for the lack of Peace Tea available in Slayter Market.
With all that being said, Denisonians must heed carefully as the guise of anonymity comes with a dark side, as it brings out people’s uninhibited nature.
Taking a quick look at YikYak on a weekend night, students can frequently find messages that, politely, can best be described as bold.
With such a platform easily at their disposal, some people are not just enabled but encouraged to post unacceptable messages that would never be voiced if the veil of anonymity were removed such as those of hate or those sexualizing fellow students. For example, it’s not out of the question to see people commenting on the bodies of fellow students or on the recent sexual exploits of themselves or the people they know.
The problem here is the clear lack of any community accountability. No matter how dangerous, horrifying, or insensitive a message is, nothing exists to hold posters accountable.
Users can freely fly in the face of societal standards and basic morality without suffering the consequences that would come if those words could actually be attributed to them. Additionally, YikYak’s anonymity provides users with the ability to impersonate others. Sure, Yik Yak can remove a message but, with anonymity it provides, cannot actually enact any substantial punishments on its users. Paired with anonymity, the lack of an enforcement mechanism further emboldens students to post whatever they want.
The intent is not to dissuade students from using Yik Yak nor to categorize the app as a cesspool for inappropriate behavior. Personally, I’m a fan of Yik Yak and browse it quite frequently.
My goal is not to see the app lose traction and fade back into irrelevance. However, I also don’t want to see Denisonians slowly slip into a habit of exploiting the anonymity provided to them and using it to bully, harass, or target individuals or groups.
It’s important to note that these messages are infrequent occurrences, the majority of Yik Yak doesn’t venture into the dark side described above. Merely, the potential pitfalls of Yik Yak must be highlighted and understood.
Denisonians must keep these dangers in mind and make sure not to let the platform that so many love spiral out of hand. It’s up to our campus to set the standard and to foster a culture that rejects the dangers associated with the veil of anonymity and deters all from posting things they wouldn’t say or post publicly.