A new social media app called Yik Yak has recently caused quite a stir on college and high school campuses across the nation, and Sewanee is the latest school to fall victim to the trend. The app’s website claims that it gives users a “live feed of what people are saying around you using your phone’s GPS”, allowing users to post comments completely anonymously about any topic. The topics of conversation within the Domain have been overwhelmingly negative, with people using the app to post hateful comments about specific people, groups of people, Greek organizations, and even administrators.Â
Many of the comments have crossed into the realm of cyber-bulling. One female sophomore who wishes to remain anonymous read a hateful comment about her only thirty minutes after she left counseling for clinical depression. “It hurt me more than I would’ve ever imagined,” she said. “It was so hurtful to be reduced down to that. I’m so much more than what that cowardly person wrote about me, and that person has no concept of what is going on in my life.”
Another victim, a male junior who also wishes to remain anonymous, called the app a “horrendous monstrosity of bigorty and cowardice,” citing the racist and sexist jeers people have exchanged on the app. “It is a significant example of misogyny, sl*t shaming, and cruelty.”
However, many people see the app as no big deal, saying the comments are simply jokes and are not intended to be taken seriously. As co-founder Brooks Buffington put it in a recent interview with CNN (the full text of which you can read here), “with anonymity comes a lot of responsibility, and college kids have the maturity it takes to handle those responsibilities.” Still, the vicious nature of many of the comments would seem to prove otherwise.Â
Regardless of the frivolity that is typically associated with social media posts, the comments on Yik Yak are becoming harmful enough to cause real pain and humiliation to members of the Sewanee community. In 200 characters or less, someone can completely shatter the years of efforts that Sewanee students and teachers have put into ending racism, sexism, and other forms of bullying, harassment, and discrimination. The app makes the lines between Greek organizations even harder to bridge, the wall between men and women more difficult to break down, and the discussion between everyone in the community more negative and less productive. As a school whose motto claims to “behold how good it is when brothers and sisters dwell together in unity”, it is time to stop Yakking and start talking about the real problems we face and the real solutions we can create to ensure that apps like this have no place on the Domain.Â