500 Words on Anonymous Social Media

Social Media is a huge influence on today's college scene. It's how we connect, interact, share information with others, it's something we use heavily almost everyday. Social Media can be advantageous for everyone if it is used properly, whether for personal or professional reasons. Using it properly excludes any use of vulgarity, profanity, or anything else that can be considered offensive by any given user. The reason why we choose not to include such content or for that matter anything that would affect our image as a person is because of the public atmosphere we enter whenever we sign up for a profile.

Think about it.

When creating our twitter or Facebook profile, it is encouraged for us to use our real name and an actual photo of us. This is so that we can be distinguished from the hundreds of millions of accounts that are active everyday. We add friends, family members, even our professors for whatever reason. A responsible user understands that whatever is posted is seen by EVERYONE. Therefore the idea of protecting and up keeping your personal image is brought up.

What if the postings on social media are anonymous?

Yik Yak has been a thing for a while now, at least for a year. in a nutshell, it's a feed of posts consisting of anything and everything, the catch is: it's 100% anonymous. The problem with remaining anonymous is that there is no reprimanded to things that are said on the app. The concept of the app is cool, the idea of using it is interesting, but the reality of what is posted on there is cruel. The app allows the user to see what is being posted by means of location. Therefore, our feed is consisted of users around the Texas Tech campus. It is our own peers posting these awful things. I've since then deleted the app, I was tired and irritated with constant bashing of Greek Life, the slandering of other organizations, and also name dropping in hopes of shaming someone. What are we achieving by doing this? This does not help our personal image as Red Raiders, it also doesn't help the image of our university. WE are encouraging libel and slander with posts like these and even recently with a snapchat account that posts HUNDREDS of pictures that would shock any responsible friend, employer or family member.

I ask all of you, as a fellow Red Raider who loves this school dearly, to stop these postings. We are students of this university. It is our job to exemplify the high standards this university holds. We can't do our job when we decide to tear down all of our hard work with these types of social media interactions.