If you have ever seen the movie Mean Girls, you know, without even knowing what Yik Yak is, what scene I am going to be talking about. Girls crying, gossip flying, chaos. If you don’t know what scene I’m talking about give this a look:
![While my experience wasn't quite this chaotic, the parallels were uncanny. Let me back up for a minute here and give you the context of the situation. From CNN:
"Yik Yak, [is] a location-based app that creates an anonymous social chat room where up to 500 nearby users connect through GPS tracking on their phones… Users are limited to 200 characters, and no pictures are allowed. If a post is "down voted" enough times by other users on the forum, the comment disappears. Tech experts are comparing the new Atlanta-based app to a cross between SnapChat and Twitter."
The anonymity of this app allows people who would otherwise be too afraid to say something to speak their minds, which is something that can be very harmful if put into the wrong hands. Unfortunately in my school, and one that is highly ranked at that, this app showed the disappointing side of human nature. Completely false and frankly vile comments were being made about both students and staff with no way to track who said what.
Each "Yak," as people were calling it, was like a page from the Burn Book. Usage of the app exploded over the course of a few hours and it was hard to take a look around the lunchroom and not see it opened on someone's phone. Being a senior, the section I was seated in realized how terrible the situation was, and with each new "Yak" I could overhear someone say, "I can't believe someone would say that about another person." Names were being named, and feelings were being hurt. It was a very weird school day to say the least.
I had heard the deans were becoming involved, which let me know how serious of a problem this app was becoming. On a few separate occasions I walked past visibly upset underclassmen girls who I had seen "Yaks" about and wanted to comfort them but I didn't know how. Even though I was never targeted, this app made me feel ashamed to go to a school with people who start such horrendous false rumors about someone else, thinking it was acceptable because they couldn't be caught.
So if you are a high school student reading this, know how hurtful comments can be, even if they are just words, and refrain from using this app. If you are a parent, teach your child to have integrity, and to resist falling victim to gossip.
Finally, and I have to give this part credit to my English teacher, Albert Einstein said of Gandhi,
"I believe that Gandhi's views were the most enlightened of all the political men in our time. We should strive to do things in his spirit: not to use violence in fighting for our cause, but by non-participation in anything you believe is evil."
So if you know that something is wrong, please, refrain from participation and do your part to stop it.](https://img.youtube.com/vi/WPYqRaOm1ak/mqdefault.jpg)
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While my experience wasn't quite this chaotic, the parallels were uncanny. Let me back up for a minute here and give you the context of the situation. From CNN:
"Yik Yak, [is] a location-based app that creates an anonymous social chat room where up to 500 nearby users connect through GPS tracking on their phones… Users are limited to 200 characters, and no pictures are allowed. If a post is "down voted" enough times by other users on the forum, the comment disappears. Tech experts are comparing the new Atlanta-based app to a cross between SnapChat and Twitter."
The anonymity of this app allows people who would otherwise be too afraid to say something to speak their minds, which is something that can be very harmful if put into the wrong hands. Unfortunately in my school, and one that is highly ranked at that, this app showed the disappointing side of human nature. Completely false and frankly vile comments were being made about both students and staff with no way to track who said what.
Each "Yak," as people were calling it, was like a page from the Burn Book. Usage of the app exploded over the course of a few hours and it was hard to take a look around the lunchroom and not see it opened on someone's phone. Being a senior, the section I was seated in realized how terrible the situation was, and with each new "Yak" I could overhear someone say, "I can't believe someone would say that about another person." Names were being named, and feelings were being hurt. It was a very weird school day to say the least.
I had heard the deans were becoming involved, which let me know how serious of a problem this app was becoming. On a few separate occasions I walked past visibly upset underclassmen girls who I had seen "Yaks" about and wanted to comfort them but I didn't know how. Even though I was never targeted, this app made me feel ashamed to go to a school with people who start such horrendous false rumors about someone else, thinking it was acceptable because they couldn't be caught.
So if you are a high school student reading this, know how hurtful comments can be, even if they are just words, and refrain from using this app. If you are a parent, teach your child to have integrity, and to resist falling victim to gossip.
Finally, and I have to give this part credit to my English teacher, Albert Einstein said of Gandhi,
"I believe that Gandhi's views were the most enlightened of all the political men in our time. We should strive to do things in his spirit: not to use violence in fighting for our cause, but by non-participation in anything you believe is evil."
So if you know that something is wrong, please, refrain from participation and do your part to stop it.
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