By Noah Holt
Staff Writer

Recently students have been turning towards social media applications (app) to get
away with things they would not want others to know are connected to them, such as
threats, bullying and racism. Students are hiding behind “anonymous” on social media
apps such as Yik Yak.
Yik Yak is a smart phone social media app a lot like Twitter, which allows users to
anonymously post whatever they feel like saying to other users within the area around
them. It is looked at as a social media gossip outlet.
Students think that by posting anonymously they cannot be traced or found because
their name is not attached to the post. However, that is not true.
On Sept. 19, a student at the University of Georgia (UGA) recently decided to post a
threat on the app Yik Yak, and thought he would not get caught. The student posted, “If
you want to live don’t be at the MLC at 12:15 [p.m.],” on Yik Yak. However, authorities
were able to trace the IP address back to the student and arrest him. The student was
charged with two felony counts of terroristic threats.
Why are students turning to Yik Yak as an outlet to be negative? What do they get out
of reading it and adding to it and who is taking part of it on Piedmont’s campus?
Sophomore business major Morgan McCalla said she reads Yik Yak to see whatpeople
are thinking around campus. “It’s entertaining at times, unlike last year when it was
mostly being used to bully other students,” she said.
Senior theatre arts major Jacob McKee uses Yik Yak to stay up to date with “what’s
going on on campus” and also because he’s “interested in what other people are saying.”
Yik Yak is supposed to be a place where students who are in the same area can go to
openly speak their minds and discuss what ever they feel with fellow peers without
worrying about being judged because it’s anonymous.
Freshman drama education major Zach Grizzle describes Yik Yak as “ a public
restroom wall on your phone.” When asked what he uses the application for he says he
mostly reads it just for laughs, but he usually ends up disappointed by the posts.
When you look at Yik Yak posts related to Piedmont, you really only find complaints
about the schools facilities, mostly the women’s freshmen residence hall Getman-Babcock
(GB) and the co-ed residence hall Purcell. Students are critical about the cafeteria food,
classes and occasionally other students, compared to last year when the application was
flooded with mostly slander against students all over campus.
Grizzle says that because it’s anonymous students are “ a lot more harsh and explicit
than they would be on Facebook or Twitter, where there’s a name next to everything.”
When speaking to students around campus, most agree that hiding behind anonymity
does not do anyone any good. Students would rather see others stand up for what they
believe in and try to make a difference, rather than criticize about what they wish would
change and whom they dislike.
Sophomore psychology major Mikayla Rogers says, “It’s mostly just freshmen posting on
Yik Yak this year. It’s not entertaining and it never has been. People use Yik Yak to complain when what they should be doing is going out and making things happen. And
frankly we don’t care if you like what Jane is wearing today.”