MAYHEM: The new iPhone and Android app Yik Yak creates controversy among high school students.
By Valeria Gutierrez, Staff Writer
Technology made life easier in the 20th century and will continue to do so until the end of time. Instead of leaving the comfort of your home, you can now shop online. With the click of a mouse, your items are delivered to your house within a few days. Instead of walking over to the library for research, every known book and fact is a few keyboard strokes away. Instead of waiting for a rerun of your favorite show, every episode is online. The era of writing letters to our pen pals was left in the dust of the World Wide Web, where a message can be sent across continents within a few seconds. Social media has progressed from the first public site (Yahoo! GeoCities in 1994) to Facebook , Flickr, Foursquare, Google+, Instagram, Myspace, Pinterest, Tumblr and Twitter—oh my!
The most recent social media app to breakthrough iTunes’ top 100 downloaded applications is Yik Yak. This app allows anyone over the age of 17 to anonymously type whatever they wish and allow 500 people in their area with the app to read it. The number of people who see your “yak” can be altered, but if you wish to go above 500, it costs money. The description of Yik Yak claims to level the playing field to meet new people around your area because you’re starting with a clean slate instead of preconceptions. The app was successful for college students, serving as a bulletin board. Now, younger Yik Yakers are expressing their thoughts on a another level.
“Yaks” from high school students across America have shifted from innocent posts to exploiting their freedom of speech. According to the U.S. Constitution’s First Amendment, a right given to all Americans includes freedom of petition, assembly, religion, press and speech. Teenagers are encouraged to find who they are and express themselves in a respectable way, both onscreen and off. Unfortunately for many teenagers, there is a fine line between expressing your thoughts and hurting a person. Although we are allowed our freedom of speech, even the Supreme Court “requires the government to provide substantial justification for the interference with the right of free speech.” As far as the American government is concerned, cyberbullying is illegal in a majority of the states and can be dealt with in a court of law or with the school system, depending on state laws.
Since Yik Yak posts appear as anonymous to the public, teenagers are not afraid to post whatever they desire. Fortunately for the school system, Yik Yak allows the U.S. government to search for specific phones and find the person who is cyberbullying others or, in recent cases, making threats. As a result of posts on this app, there have been at least two juvenile arrests for shooting threats. Cellphones were banned during school hours and there were several accounts of campus shutdowns. The city of Chicago has banned Yik Yak in the entire area as a consequence of numerous cases of cyberbullying through the app. One of the most recent Yik Yak hoaxes was in San Clemente High School. The school was quickly placed on lockdown shortly after a bomb threat was posted until K-9 police units were able to clear the school.
As a result of these horrible encounters with Yik Yak, the app has been criticized. The anonymous feature of the app is the center of all of these problems. Teenagers are fueled by their invisibility with Yik Yak, unlike other social media applications in which their name and information are publically visible. Cyberbullying is not a matter taken lightly by anyone; it hurts a number of children and teenagers mentally and physically without reason to do so.
Although freedom of speech and privacy are the perks of living in the United States, these rights are not to be trifled with. The American government granted us with these rights to protect ourselves against tyranny. But once we become the tyrants, the government is quick to fix this problem. Yik Yak is an incredible concept of an online bulletin board created for the sole purpose of assisting college students to spread the word on news such as pop quizzes and restaurant specials. The application was never meant to be taken over by immature teenagers to attack fellow students. Regardless of restraints, some students will continue to cyberbully because they have nothing better to do. When all else fails, close the app and move on because cyberbullies are worth no one’s time and effort.