By Grace Papa
We can all agree that the majority of us are constantly buried in our phones. The endless stream of entertainment that the media presents us is anything but a bore, and this blog is one of them! We are constantly searching for new forms of entertainment and our wish was granted this year when the app YikYak was brought back to the app store. The social media app was previously a big hit in the early 2010s but ended up being shut down in 2017 because of racism and threats of violence. Specifically, there was an incident of sexual assault on a college campus and students were using YikYak to make assumptions about what happened and who was involved.
Four years later, we find ourselves immersed in YikYak’s constantly changing content. If you don’t know what YikYak is, it is an app similar to Twitter except the posts are anonymous. To engage with others’ posts, you can upvote or downvote, and posts with lots of upvotes get moved to the “Hot” section of the app—a place where I spend most of my browsing. The content that a user will see is posted from people within a 5-mile radius of them, so it’s ideal for college campuses where students can share their experiences and other relatable content.
However, there are ups and downs to the app. A major worry is that the app might take its course and later be shut down due to harmful comments being made. The creators of the app seem to have hope in their users in maintaining a safe and favorable environment. But recently, more and more users have noticed posts that can be taken as bullying or harassment. Because the app is anonymous, no one is responsible for what they say, so there is essentially lots of verbal freedom given to users. Luckily, posts that can be seen as homophobic, racist, sexist, or promoting sexual violence are not incredibly common ...but they are still there. Since YikYak doesn’t have any sort of filter, people can use whatever language they please even if it is unfavorable. Tiktok is doing a better job at regulating its content since they recently made it an option for users to filter their comments. This way, if a comment has a specific word, it will automatically be taken down. Do better, YikYak.
Another commonly talked about topic on YikYak is mental health. Students will post things like “I would not be mad if I got hit by a bus,” which can get as many as 150 upvotes. Elon University’s student news even reported on the toxicity of the app and questioned whether or not students who post about their deteriorating mental health are getting the help they need. Anonymous upvotes and responses do nothing to help the person actually struggling.
Despite the many negatives, YikYak does make a great outlet for students to engage with one another; it’s basically one big inside joke. The best part is that the content is geared to your location so students at the same school will be seeing the same content. Currently, Pitt YikYak users have been making numerous jokes about student-athlete backpacks. They are considered a staple item for any student-athlete walking around campus, and people can often tell who an athlete is based on their backpack. One user said, “I wonder if Pitt’s student athletes wear their backpacks during s*x.” While some might take offense to this, others enjoy the collective meme-ing of the backpacks.
Overall, the app is a hit or miss. You could get a good laugh or be really offended. It is safe to say YikYak is meant for a mature audience since the content can be rather graphic. We’re not quite sure how long YikYak will last but all I can say is that, for the users, keep up with the entertaining posts and for the creators, do better on filtering your content.
