The Trouble with Being Anonymous

Are you familiar with Yik Yak? It's gained popularity since it's release in 2013 and is now on lots of college campuses. It's a social media app that allows you to post thoughts with absolute anonymity. It pulls all "Yaks" from within up to a 10-mile radius of your location. It's based on proximity to others using it, so on a college campus there's a steady flow of "Yaks." You can vote a post up or down and the more popular posts get attention.

It's been catching on all around the country. Perhaps it's been around at your campus for awhile, but it only took off in the last couple weeks or so on my campus (the start of the new year).

This isn't social networking. There's no meaningful engagement.

There's nothing I read in my campus's Yaks related to the power of positive connections. As I read through the "yaks" here, there's only hatred, mockery and biased language. People are saying negative things about the institution and each other.

As a concerned student affairs professional, I fear for what this type of app means for the safety of our students. What do we do when someone posts about suicidal thoughts? What if someone posts about a crime? An assault? We are forced to be idle bystanders and it's uncomfortable.

This is destructive. I know many who study social media advocate for the ability to have anonymous forums. There is evidence to show that those who are not in privileged positions find power in being anonymous. But I think even those advocates would feel this is something different. Yik Yak appears only to be intended for destructive, hateful posts.

One of my colleagues decided to post on Yik Yak tonight. She posted a positive message with a positive quote. It was voted down so much and so quickly within five minutes that the post was removed and her account was suspended for 24 hours.

Oliver Burkeman wrote an interesting piece in The Guardian in June about the nature of anonymous social media. In it, he asks "By inviting us to communicate anonymously... the new generation of apps has launched a real-world test of a puzzle that goes back to Plato. When our identities are concealed, do we automatically degenerate into amoral, foul-mouthed bullies? Or, freed from the pressure of maintaining a flawless public facade, might we discover new ways to relate to one another with compassion and honesty?"

Burkeman is onto something there, but he might be a few years too early (which in this day and age is a couple of digital generations worth of growth). Maybe the hateful and often disgusting posts are part of a new freedom and students will grow out of it and the app will evolve. I've only seen destructive behavior with Yik Yak. I hope it changes.

We can do better than this.

Have you had discussions about Yik Yak with students? What's helpful?

How have you helped students negotiate the messages we send about not being a bystander with the helplessness that comes from watching anonymous posts pile up?