Is Yik Yak contributing to a decline in mental health?
You must be living under a rock if you haven’t heard of the highly addicting (as some may argue) social media app called Yik Yak. Launched in 2013 and relaunched in 2021, the app allows you to anonymously connect with everyone within 5 miles. Its rise in popularity on the Elon campus has encouraged users to post authentic, anonymous comments addressing social issues, but are some students taking it a little too far?
Anonymity has its positives and negatives. It can be a way to share mental struggles without the pressure of societal labels and stigmas associated with mental illness. However, it also paves the way for hate speech and bullying. People think it is automatically justifiable to start hating on others as long as there is no name associated with the post. So, the question is, is Yik Yak contributing to a decline in mental health, or is it encouraging unheard voices to speak out on pressing societal issues?
Why Yik Yak Exists
According to the Yik Yak Team, “We need risk-free, lens-free spaces to be vulnerable, to be curious, and to learn more about the people around us.” We live in a world full of labels, whether they’re self-imposed or assigned to us by peers. Whether it be ideal standards of beauty that Instagram inflicts on women or a LinkedIn title, labels fuel nearly all interactions with others online.
The Debate
Labels can be great in certain scenarios, such as creating your own personal brand. In other instances, labels can be used as a precursor to judge others merely based on appearance or their interests. Therefore, it is reasonable enough to say that we all want to experience life from time to time without the permanent and constant pressures of labels.
The difference between Yik Yak and other social platforms such as Twitter or Facebook is the anonymity aspect; it adds a dimension of potential growth and personal development for its users in a risk-free environment. On Facebook, if someone disagrees with a post, you could be the victim of severe backlash. But with Yik Yak, it is as simple as “down-voting” or “up-voting” a post without the fear of anyone knowing it was you who posted it. The beauty of this is that everyone is equal; the most popular celebrity on Earth can appear the same as the average person.
Götz Bachmann, Michi Knecht and Andreas Wittelin summarize it perfectly: anonymity is freedom from surveillance, accountability and social constraints. It is a space apart from the “commodification of the social,” and anonymity is an egalitarian model within which it is possible to experience “an unmaking of status inequality.”
On the other hand, Yik Yak can be a tool that warrants cyberbullying and harassment. Back in 2016, it was the number one source for gossip on college campuses. When the designers tried to redirect the conversation towards location-based social networking, students stopped using the app and most of the company’s employees were laid off. This goes to show that the app only thrives off sh*talking others.
Now, the app requires users to input their phone numbers so they can trace those who post inappropriately. It also warns users right off the bat of its zero-tolerance policy for bullying and threats. But simply reinforcing a policy and actually being prepared to moderate those issues on a mass scale are two very different things. Due to the vast amount of users of the app, verbally abusive or threatening posts can definitely be overlooked.
The Stats
According to Engadget, there were reports that students at the University of Mary Washington in Virginia were threatened with rape and murder on the app. Racist messages and threats of gun and bomb violence were also commonplace in other colleges in the country. In another case, a student at Middlebury College in Vermont posted an open letter about being targeted on the app for her weight. YikYak tried to answer these concerns by creating geofences and adding filters around certain keywords, but eventually, its reputation was fatally tainted.
Christine Garcia, an associate and clinical director at the Young Adult and Family Center (YAFC) at the University of California, San Francisco, department of psychiatry, says, "Being able to just block someone is not enough. The language of the site, who it partners with, how it advertises itself, the user experience ... all of these and more need to create a culture that is anti-bully and pro-community building in order for an anonymous app to benefit."
At the end of the day, it’s all about how we choose to utilize the app. We have a responsibility to uplift and support one another as an Elon community. We also must recognize that there is no benefit or gain in putting others down. Let’s be real, does it really make you feel better to call someone “fat” or “ugly” or inflict riots and fear in a place you consider to be your home away from home?
Our tip to readers: make conscientious decisions about what you post online, and most importantly, be kind to one another.