Monday, April 13, 2015
Reaction to Yik Yak
The Yik Yak article actually surprised me a lot. I was disturbed by the way college students were using the app, yet the founders said that high school students were too immature for the app? I honestly cannot even think of another situation more immature than the ones that occurred at Eastern Michigan University, Middlebury College, and countless other schools around the U.S. Despite the ridiculing and mocking that occurs over the app, it cannot due to the Freedom of Speech amendment. Now, I completely understand this, people should have the right to say whatever they so please, but why the anonymity? This app is so popular because everyone that participates remains anonymous, otherwise it would be just like Twitter. Many people are drawn to it because of this anonymity aspect, because they do not have to take ownership or responsibility for their poisonous words. But why? Why don't they just post it on Twitter? Probably because they know that what they are saying is most likely inappropriate, disrespectful, and just down right unacceptable in today's society - so they hide behind a screen like a coward. If they want to say these horribly awful things about students, teachers, and other faculty members, then they should have to do so without remaining anonymous. If they are not going to suppress their immature comments or mask their opinions, then they should not mask their identity either.
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Ashley, I too was also very surprised that the app creators think high school students are immature while college students are doing worse actions. I completely agree with the point you made that this app is so popular because it is anonymous, which I believe is not fully safe or fair to anyone.
ReplyDeleteThe questions you used in this passage really helped make this a very strong a thought-provoking piece. This passage also seemed very passionate, like I said before, your writing has a strong voice which demonstrates your opinion very clearly.
ReplyDeleteThere is definitely a correlation between the immaturity and offensiveness of what someone says and how accountable they are for saying it. I remember a quote from Oscar Wilde, "A man is least himself when he talks in his own person. Give him a mask and he will tell you the truth." These are the true opinions that college students believe. Even though they may be older, they still carry many of the same traits that they did in high school. Same people, same character. Character rarely changes in the quick years between high school and college.
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