A few weeks after my arrival onto a college campus, I learned about the existence of Yik Yak, a location-based anonymous Twitter-like application. Anyone is free to “yak” their random thoughts so long as they don’t threaten or abuse a specific target. My first impression of the service was an appreciation for the outlet. The most popular Yaks are generally creative, comically relatable observations or heartfelt advice to the public; however, my first impression of the Yak occurred during the happy, sunny hours of a typical weekday.
After some time with the app, I noticed a certain trend in the yaks when the nights are a bit too late, and students are a bit too drunk. I checked the app at 3 a.m. to find that Yak had turned to the dark side, every refresh bringing an uncomfortably angry declaration on others or a depressingly loathsome self-hatred plea. Hidden behind a wall of anonymity, people comfortably share the thoughts that are so rarely heard within intrapersonal interactions.
Anonymity eliminates normative social boundaries and facilitates the dehumanization of others. The reason you so easily curse the car moving too slowly is the same one that left that terrible YouTube comment. When direct consequences are removed from your thoughts and actions, your morality can take an uncomfortable turn for the worse. Plato explored this idea in his book "Republic" with a mythical artifact known as the Ring of Gyges. The Ring turns whoever wears it completely invisible, allowing anonymity in actions and freedom from consequences. Those who wore the ring, no matter how intelligent or moral they were, turned completely evil.
Obviously, not everyone that uses anonymous services turns into an immortal supervillain, but those who do use them should be aware of the possible ramifications of faceless internet interactions. YouTube has made efforts to reduce hateful comments by linking social media profiles to accounts on the site, and Yik Yak has a user-based rating system and buzzword detectors to reduce offensive yaks, but these systems are not perfect and these services are not exclusive. The more obscure the anonymous medium the more likely you are to have an uncomfortable encounter with text on a screen. So if you dabble with these faceless internet interactions be careful of what others may say to you and what you might find yourself saying to others.
