Anything Goes: ONU Yik Yak

Despite my three years as a student here, I had never joined Yik Yak until recently. Specifically, the Thursday before Halloweekend. Going into it, I had heard completely mixed reviews. Some said that it was the worst thing you could put yourself through, and others said it was hilarious. Seeing as I have an affinity for both laughing and indulging in the angsty parts of life, I finally joined. 

First things first, let’s address the scooter in the room. If you want to hear slander and absolute degradation about scooters (and even their users), this is the app for you! Many people on campus do not like scooters. This is because a lot of individuals have horror stories about getting “run over” or almost being hit. Scooter users never seemed to defend themselves, and I didn’t see less of them after the posts were made, so unsurprisingly I don’t think they were bothered much. 

Speaking of being bothered, I felt……rather disheartened, to put it gently, about the number of people who were willing to express their innately sexual desires. Why must I be subjected to the feelings of arousal expressed by my peers? As you may be able to guess, it was predominantly directed towards women, even random ones that these individuals were merely noticing (objectifying) in passing. It really speaks to the current relationship culture. People would rather post about how attractive someone is in a degrading manner through the use of a deidentified account, rather than stop them and try to engage in conversation. While social media is a way for people to express their individuality, it also opens the door for unique and personal thoughts to be shared with others. The users of Yik Yak pose the ultimate question: must we always share those thoughts? I would firmly state that no, in fact, we should not. In fact, I beg them to consider stopping. 

In a similar vein, a lot of people on Yik Yak are complainers, even when they are in control of changing the situation. A lot of random people catch flack on Yik Yak for being too loud in the library or being annoying in a specific location. Now, I totally understand complaining about people who run or scream in the dorm hallways. Those people deserve to be publicly shamed. However, complaining about being talked to on the first and second floors of the library is wild. Not only can I, the viewer of the post 10 hours after the fact, do nothing about it, but you could get up and tell the librarian on duty about issues with noise control from others. Or, better yet, go to the third floor. Go to a desolate spot in the middle of nowhere. They keep the buildings on campus open – go there. I fail to understand the logic of “let me go to the library, a place that is a public forum, and complain when people don’t behave in the way I was hoping they would”. It’s okay to personally be annoyed by it, but to go onto an anonymous platform and call those individuals heinous things is an immature and miserable way to act. 

One expectation I had coming into it was a heightened level of civic engagement. While the information shared may be wrong, certainly there would be people passing along noteworthy information to a general audience, right? Wrong. People cared very, very little about what was happening on campus. Instead, Yik Yak is political in a way that lacks nuance and respect, and only leads to arguments in comment sections. It’s a very harmful way to be civically engaged, in my opinion. However, I must give credit where credit is due. Upon being informed of the tuition increase, many individuals were interested in having a beneficial discourse about the information. Some people even went and did research and posted their findings for others to see. High five, polar bears! You did a good thing! People also came together and had a lot to say about the first snow of the year, so at least the ONU community can be a united front about some things. 

My experience, overall, was extremely underwhelming. This may be a hot take, but I found there to be hardly any funny Yik Yak posts. However, there are times in which people come out of the woodwork with some seriously hilarious stuff. Most of them contained content that might be too inappropriate to include, so I scoured my upvotes for the ones that were friendlier. So, without further ado, here are some of my favorite posts: 

You may be thinking that it’s rude or distasteful of me to publish an article that sort of hates Yik Yak users, but at least I’m doing it in a forum where my identity is attached to it. I welcome any rebuttals to this article, only if they can be done without using an anonymous account. I encourage everyone to embrace the discomfort of standing up for themselves, their wants, and their needs in a way that is respectful, professional, and timely. Additionally, I praise those who are able to do so without needing validation from an anonymous post.