For many students at Northwestern State University of Louisiana, YikYak, the anonymous app that allows you to share your thoughts and complaints, is part of a student’s daily screen time.
YikYak has grown to be an integral part of the digital college communities. But is it a good idea to take the relationships created within the app’s community into the real world?
YikYak is an app that allows college students to anonymously create and view discussion threads with other users within a five-mile radius within their university, making it the ideal social media platform for a close-knit community.
The app was originally launched in 2013 but was taken down in 2017 due to complaints of cyberbullying. YikYak then relaunched in 2021, this time with an intent to foster community growth on college campuses.
Personally, I believe meeting people on Yik Yak is a largely unwise decision. While Yik Yak can be fun to use, part of the reason it is so fun is because of the anonymous aspect. The dangers of meeting people on the internet are not exclusive to Instagram or dating apps. According to a study by Brigham Young University, 14% of sexual assault cases occur because of a first-time meeting with someone from the internet.
In response to an Instagram poll in my own social media account, nine NSU students said they regularly use YikYak. While none of these students stated they had met anyone using the app, three students felt that it was a good idea.
Some think that it could be a good idea only if you remain cautious. Manolo Marcantel, freshman social work major, expressed his opinion about this.
“Can it be dangerous at times?” Marcantel said. “Absolutely. But I think if you’ve been talking for a while, and swap numbers or social media, it could be a good idea to meet those people in real life and hang out as friends or something more, depending on the situation.”
The remaining six out of the nine said that it was a bad idea to meet people using YikYak, like Georgia Martinez-Stehr, freshman biology major.
“I mostly use Yik Yak to look at funny posts and updates about things happening on campus that I wouldn’t normally get through Outlook or Instagram,” Martinez-Stehr said. “But I don’t like the idea of trusting a complete stranger on an app designed for anonymity just because they go to your university of almost 10,000 people.”
YikYak is no less dangerous simply because of its five-mile radius.
There are thousands of people on this campus, and just because you both attend NSU does not make them immediately trustworthy. However, the risks can be reduced with cautious measures, such as meeting in a public place or sharing your location with someone you trust.
