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SALT LAKE CITY — Anonymity can give a false sense of courage to users of a new online community that has been accused of enabling cyber bullying.
Yik Yak is an online bulletin board, where users can post their thoughts and musings anonymously, responding to other users in their geographic location. The app has recently come under fire for enabling cyber bullying among teens.
According to the app’s "Rules & Info," Yik Yak is a “community where you can post messages for other users in your area to see. Post jokes, thoughts, observations, questions, etc., just make sure that you’re posting quality content.”
But reports from many schools across the country indicate the app was being used for spreading lies and gossip. New York magazine published a first-hand account from a student in Westport, Connecticut, that detailed vile and profane rumors that were spreading through his high school campus.
“No one under college age should be on Yik Yak,” the Rules & Info continue. However, nothing stops a new user from participating, regardless of age. The first two parameters of using the app are clear.
“1. You do not bully or specifically target other yakkers."
"2. You DO NOT bully or specifically target other yakkers.”
Online bullying is not new. But things got so out of hand at several schools, including a bomb threat hoax that brought authorities on scene in San Clemente, California, the creators of the app had to respond.
According to The Daily Mail, the company behind Yik Yak has used geo-fencing to stop the app from being opened on the campuses of more than 130,000 schools.
Geo-fencing is technology that allows the app to create micro-communities, ensuring only those within a 1.5 mile radius are able to participate in posting on Yik Yak. Using the same technology, it can make the app inoperable on high school and college campuses by outlining a geographic dead zone.
A survey published by the University of Chicago in October 2013 revealed that online bullying has declined and that kids are going the old-fashioned face-to-face route.
However, Pamela Rutledge, director of the Media Psychology Research Center, told the Huffington Post taking away access to apps like Yik Yak is not the best way to cope.
“Kids feel that grown-ups aren't particularly well-equipped to help them with cyber bullying, in part because the technology is so central to their social life and the parent's first solution is often to take away the offending technology, making the 'solution' worse than the bullying,” Rutledge said. “There is also a concern when parents or other adults try to 'fix' bullying is that they step in and essentially debilitate the kid, rather than arming a kid with tools to defend his or herself. This reinforces the sense of victim and lack of agency.”
