There's a new app on campus -- and it might be one you want to avoid. Yik Yak, a new online app, is springing up on college campuses and may be causing more damage than entertainment.
Our generation was one of the first to grow up with social media, and while we are still learning and navigating online etiquette, we’ve all experienced, firsthand, the power that social media can hold. A single post can go viral in a matter of days, hours, even minutes. A simple challenge can raise millions of dollars for medical research all because people upload a video to their Facebook page. But, social media can also be highly destructive.
A few days ago, I was
informed of a new app making its rounds on campus. Apparently, it has been around for a while and
I’m a bit late to the game, so you’ve probably already heard of it. "Yik Yak is like an
anonymous Twitter,” someone explained to me. Naturally, I was curious, so I downloaded it.
Right away, I knew this could get ugly.
The difference between Yik Yak and Twitter is that instead of
following people, the app simply uses your location to show you posts that
other people in your area have added. There are no names, just anonymous posts -- each with an up or down arrow
on the side. If other users like the
post they can then click the up arrow; if they dislike the post, they can
click the down arrow.
Honestly, the app can be highly entertaining,
but as I continued to scroll through more posts I began to notice a nasty trend. Because the app shows you posts based on location, and I was currently on the UNL campus, I saw more and more posts
regarding Greek life and other UNL students.
As I
scrolled through the app over the course of the next few days, I was appalled
at the amount of crude and cruel comments people had posted. There were comments about other Greek
houses, racial slurs, inappropriate comments about women, and rude posts about the non-Greek community. With
all of the current negativity in our world, I am consistently amazed at
people’s decision to add toxic comments. Do cheap shots and digs at others really make us feel better about
ourselves?
As members of the Greek system, we know, firsthand, how capable and intelligent our brothers and sisters are. Not only in our own houses, but in every house
on campus. For some reason, the majority
of posts I saw on Yik Yak were cruel and destructive, often playing to hurtful stereotypes. And worse, they
seemed to be posted by fellow Greeks. Taking cheap shots at other Greek organizations is going to do
nothing but widening the divide between houses.
Unfortunately, the posts didn’t stop there. As I continued to scroll, I noticed posts also
involved the non-Greek community. I still
have yet to see how the decision to go Greek makes someone
better than another. It was apparent,
however, that many users did not share this opinion. Then, there were the racial slurs about other students, and inappropriate and objectifying sexual posts about women on
campus. This is not
acceptable. Vicious stereotypes continue to plague our student body, a trend that is all too obvious on Yik Yak.
I found many of these Yik
Yak posts to be cowardly and immature. If
you wouldn’t feel comfortably saying these things to someone’s face, what makes
it okay to post online? I’m not asking that we all delete the app and take a
solemn vow to never check Yik Yak again, but I am asking you to think carefully
before you make an anonymous post. Anonymous or not, a post can be incredibly
hurtful to students on our campus -- something we all need to take into account
when using any form of social media. These
cowardly, destructive posts are doing nothing to build a welcoming community on
UNL’s campus. Be kind to one another,
it’s really not difficult.