Two recent Opinion articles in The Cavalier Daily have debated about the anonymous nature of Yik Yak in terms of its influence on Community of Trust, the freedom of expression of students and the impact it can make on students in general. These two articles, while both being well-written and thought-provoking, fail to address Yik Yak’s impact on victims of stereotyping.
Anonymity is what most significantly distinguishes Yik Yak from other social apps. According to my fellow columnist Sawan Patel, the anonymity promotes dialogue within the community. Indeed, students are more likely to publicize their personal opinion and intimate feelings when their identities are hidden, and readers are more inclined to judge an opinion based on the argument itself rather than the identity of the writer. Therefore, ideally, Yik Yak should be a congregation of diverse views.
However, as a frequent user of Yik Yak, that is not what I’ve observed. On the University’s Yik Yak page, a reader can expect to see the nearly identical posts every day. What particularly catches my attention is the stereotyping of different groups, including Asian students, the Greek community and Commerce students.
Depicting the members of certain groups in a one-dimensional way is unusually popular on Yik Yak, which is partly due to the voting system of the app. Yik Yak allows readers to make the posts which they support or find interesting more visible by up-voting. They can also remove a post with several consecutive down-votes. For a yak to survive and remain on the front page, it needs to attract as many up-votes as possible in a very short time. Readers make their decisions in seconds, and stereotyping is always an easy way to attract attention, laughter and, consequentially, up-votes. Asians are all straight-A mathematicians or engineers who study all day; sorority girls are all attractive yet dumb blondes. Readers are amused, yaks are up-voted, writers are encouraged, more yaks are produced, and the stereotypes are reinforced.
Unlike plain racist and sexist comments, stereotyping, far from being condemned, criticized and down-voted, is recognized by the Yik Yak community as the key to getting high votes. It’s more subtle than discrimination in the traditional sense, for this kind of generalization tends to be more neutral, and the intent of stereotyping is arguably more innocent and unconscious. However, stereotyping is nothing but an easy and quick method to obtain unauthentic information and construct inaccurate assumptions. It results in unfair treatment and confines our ability and willingness to obtain additional information to see the whole picture. On social networks like Yik Yak, the audience is overwhelmed by false information and is therefore more likely to be misled. Every Yak is short-lived, and it need not — and often will not — be carefully examined. The pleasure derived from judging strangers is amplified when seeing the large number of up-votes. Even I could be amused by jokes about Asian students when I see hundreds of up-votes, as if that were the actual number of people laughing at the joke around me.
In this way, Yik Yak perpetuates existing stereotypes. While some claim that these groups can always defend themselves, in reality, they cannot. Defending against stereotyping is not an appropriate social behavior on Yik Yak. It’s too serious, too pretentious, and it takes too much effort to compose and too much time to read. The content of the first page changes every several seconds. It simply won’t stay on the front page long enough to be seen by many people.
Although most controversies on Yik Yak center on its anonymity, as Patel argued, anonymity does promote freedom of expression and closeness between students. The problem with Yik Yak is its up-voting system, which diminishes the possibility of proliferating diverse views. Inevitably, the information and opinions Yik Yak displays are overwhelmingly majoritarian. Anonymity, with its egalitarian nature, is first implemented to nourish active participations from all sides, and to allow the voice of the under-represented to be heard. However, Yik Yak’s original intent of providing an open and non-judgemental platform has been discarded and forgotten.
I don’t intend to argue that Yik Yak should become an anonymous online academic journal of campus life. After all, that’s unrealistic and even somewhat absurd. Filled with obsession with Netflix and complaints about O’ Hill cookies, YikYak is an interesting congregation of random thoughts and uncensored views of students. Reading them is a pleasing escape from the stress of school work. Its anonymity could provoke thoughtful debates, but could also disseminate unfounded opinions about specific types of individuals. Making Yik Yak a stimulator that invigorates awareness concerning our community, including about stereotyping, can be accomplished by actively down-voting posts that are inconsistent with the Honor Code and moral standards that bind every Wahoo.
Sasha Wan is a Viewpoint Writer.
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