From Wawa to the basketball team, YikYak is a great way to keep up with what is trending among students on campus. The posts come rolling in at all hours of the day, sharing anonymous tips, jokes and other lighthearted comments to keep the school community connected as well as up to date. However, what happens when this app crosses the line from fun to too far? What happens when people are posting initials of others they are trying to expose, hiding behind the profiles on their phones and making inappropriate jokes regarding serious situations? I understand that the true meaning of YikYak is meant to be fun and lighthearted, but I believe that it has become something dangerous that is enjoyable for some and dreadful for others. 

I remember last January when I had entered the sorority recruitment process, people were anonymously writing comments on YikYak throughout the entire week. From ignorant comments about how you were only cool if you were in a certain sorority to guys ranking their favorite sororities, my friends and I had to delete the app for the rest of the week. We were trying to find our place and people after a very tumultuous first semester, and every time we opened an app that was supposed to be a way to laugh things off, we ended up feeling ashamed and judged from people we didn’t know. People’s opinions, no matter how anonymous they may seem, can not only be hurtful but cause a lot of uncertainty when trying to make an already overwhelming decision. 

The main issue that surrounds this app is the anonymity of it all. I believe that if you have the nerve to say something as heinous as some of the comments I have seen on the app, then you should have the nerve to write your name. By making comments, accusations, sometimes even creating lies and being able to hide behind the screen without ever being discovered is what fuels these unhealthy threads on the page. If people had to upload a picture of their faces, names and grades when posting judgements or senseless comments about others, I wonder how many would still choose to make their posts public to the student body. 

I don’t want my opinion to be misconstrued as the typical, “no one can take a joke anymore.” I have a sense of humor, and a pretty strong one at that. However, I am also old enough to know when something is no longer funny and can hurt someone else, even if we don’t realize it. This is the issue with all social media at the end of the day. Something meant to be social, fun and positive being turned into a place to spread false information and hurtful words. At least on Instagram or Snapchat, you can find the profile of whoever is making the posts, whereas on YikYak it can be just about anybody. Then you are left to question how many people in the student body truly believe some of these ideas when it comes to cliques, culture, and more.  

Now, being a sophomore, I have the ability to filter most of what I see on the app through my head, not allowing most of the senseless comments to bother me. Let’s be clear: I am still human and words can still hurt even when they are from strangers, I just know better. I cannot help but think of the freshmen who don’t have the same confidence to let so many threads and comments just roll off their back, because that was me last year. It is especially damaging when serious situations on campus or in our world are turned into material for fodder and rumors on the app, leading to a culture of insensitivity. 

“As a student who also works in residence life, I see firsthand how students arrive on campus at one of the most vulnerable and uncertain points in their lives,” Jack McLaughlin, a residence assistant and junior said. “Anonymous apps like this become tools for spreading abuse, and whether you’re the target or just a bystander, every hateful post takes a toll on your mental health.” 

I understand the intention of YikYak and I believe that as a campus we should strive to transform the app back to the state of its original intended purpose. By making the app a welcoming place where all opinions are welcome, jokes can still be shared but holding those accountable for their posts may make the forum a safer place for all Villanovans. When people have their usernames and student email addresses attached to a joke they are making, hopefully that will cause users to think twice before posting their thoughts onto the thread. At the end of the day, anonymity should never come at the cost of someone else’s dignity. And until we hold each other accountable, even behind a screen, the harm will continue to outweigh the humor.