September 18, 2014
Before I start chiding Yik Yak let me begin by saying I think that the Internet is the greatest invention in the history of mankind and that social media in general is one of its best manifestations. I adore the opportunity to engage and express afforded by different platforms, and I think it is a necessary and healthy part of our society. But I have to draw the line somewhere.
On a theoretical level I understand both the function and the appeal of Yik Yak. Open forums have often times been the primary source of political and social change. Except that is not what Yik Yak is for, which is where its alternative appeal comes in. Yik Yak is about making funny and occasionally snide observations, and it comes complete with a captive, frequent audience. I can understand why it is a fun app. But like all tools, any negative consequences are the fault of the user, not the tool itself. Yik Yak is nothing without its users. Where I see a potential problem with Yik Yak, though, is the effects it will have on both its active and passive users. The active users are helping perpetuate a new, potentially dangerous culture and the passive ones are feeding into the system.
The active users of Yik Yak are doing exactly what all Internet users do: they are creating a culture and a community. The Internet is a sort of meta-dimension of reality that serves as a Wild West for its users where the constructs of presentation and position are stripped away and anyone can become anything. Since the dawn of forums and chatrooms, the Internet has allowed people to be who they want, but more importantly to create the worlds they want. They create spaces for discussion, reflection, collaboration and expression, but not without a few hiccups. Just read a couple of Youtube comments and you will see what I mean. Yik Yak is just another new forum for expression without any real rules, but some of its qualities certainly heighten potential problems.
First is the anonymity. No one accountable for what they say. You can spew, slander and falsify all you want about anyone or anything with no accountability for it. Harmless comments about papers are treated as seriously as malicious comments about people. I think this problem is obvious enough. Second is the intimacy. Since YikYak is geographically based, th e comments left there are accessible to an audience with an all too familiar knowledge of what the writer is referring to. Sometimes it is just Commons food or fickle weather, but what happens when names get dropped and specific identifiers are mentioned? On a campus of 2,000 people, even if you don’t know the subject you are only two degrees away from them, and gossip is just as sweet when it is about strangers. There is a potent chance for defamation when a single comment can reach everyone instantaneously.
The passive effects can be even more insidious though. Passive users are the manpower behind a movement that gives it a real sense of credibility. Without an audience to validate the performance, the performance itself is in some ways rejected via apathy. But when there are hundreds of affirming votes and approving users, there is enough positive feedback to transform one person’s output into the basis for an entire group’s new behavior. Passive viewers fuel the minority of actors with their presence alone. And you don’t even have to actually reply or vote to be a member of this cycle.
Talking about Yik Yak lets other people know that you use it and approve of its good and bad sides. The tacit approval from downloading the app and glancing at it between classes is enough to inspire courage in the writers. And when a group builds enough confidence that its actions and existence are real and important it can go anywhere. It has legs to stand on and it can evolve or devolve rapidly. The latter scares me more.
Look at Hamilton Secrets. I do not know what the founders were intending when they began, but how long did it take for it to descend into rude comments, anonymous cat fights, and endless barrages of hateful rhetoric? Not long. And how did people get ballsy enough to start writing such spew? Because someone else had done it first, and people liked it, people commented on it and even just people talking about it the next day was enough to inspire further nasty, unsolicited remarks. The users created a malicious community nearly overnight. An online community is a powerful tool. It can be a safe space for open speech—or a dark crawl space of loathed people.
I know I am being alarmist. Looking through Yik --Yak today revealed nothing offensive or even mean spirited. It was pretty funny actually. But as a life long Internet citizen and passionate defender of its values, I feel compelled to look down the road on some of its latest attractions and try to assess and explain where I think things will go wrong. Google is a wonderful search engine and very successful company—but someone had to start asking about our collective right to privacy. Tumblr is a progressive, fascinating forum for speech and discourse, but what happens when anonymous people begin harassing the users?
Like I said, the Internet is a constantly new dimension of the human experience, but despite all its joyful, hopeful and free outlets, someone has to try and be a sheriff or sorts. I think rules that ensure a safe, accountable, new communities are important and that some of those places already exist in the virtual world. The Internet is the ultimate tool, so it is only as good as its myriad users.
In a communal sphere where nothing is prohibited, it is all on the group to foster a healthy culture. If they do not try then a culture of disrespect and malice may form instead, and we jeopardize the quality of the greatest gift that we all have.
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