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A 19 year old in my Psych of Parenting class, who calls Instagram "Insta" and acts like everyone goes to Coachella, was surprised to find out that I, a veritable senior citizen, have a tumblr. She asked me if I also knew about Yik Yak.
Now I do. Yik Yak is a world within the world of my (and, it seems, every other) school. It's an app, an anonymous real time bulletin board that follows you to whatever location you are - so, if I'm at FIU, I see a constant feed of new "Yaks" from around FIU. There are about 20 per minute, and all of them can be upvoted, downvoted or replied to. Frequently upvoted posts go to the "Hot" page, which is all some people check, since as it is there are a few dozen hot posts per hour.
As I sat in my Psych of Parenting class, where there are about 75 students in stadium-style rows of seats, my teacher droned on and on as everyone looked at their phones. Today, I was looking at Yik Yak for the first time so I got to see the conversation unfolding:
"This Psych of Parenting teacher actually thinks someone is listening to her."
"OMG dude in Psych of P 2nd row stop sniffling and just blow your fucking nose." (heavily downvoted)
"Those girls in the top row of Psych of P are SO HOT."
"WHO IS SAYING THAT the girls in the top row wanna know who is into them!"
Huh. It's like everyone is simultaneously passing notes to everyone else, but the teacher doesn't even know "notes" exist.
There are also Yaks from all around school popping up, and from in other classes.
"Why is there a robot outside blue garage?"
"Whoever the fuck is throwing paper towels all over the GC bathrooms needs to knock that shit off"
"Girl in the purple tank top with the tie dye back pack can get it, hit me up"
"I think I found the robot owner"
"I've got a jean jacket and black shorts, find me and I'll give you a dollar"
"Anybody on the 3rd floor of PG5 have a light? I'll spark you up."
"Idiot in the gray Civic by old dorms just backed into the same tree twice SMH"
"OH SNAP free doughtnuts by the library don't say I never hooked you up"
"I have to see this robot"
"We got people on scooters, skateboards, roller skates, and bicycles all up in this campus I ain't even gonna be surprised when I see the first one driving their car from class to class"
Because it is the internet, they also argued about racism continuously. Probably the funniest thing I saw was someone who claimed to have her boyfriend on Cuban lockdown, and called it Guantanamo Bae.
I'm sort of amazed and feel like a crotchety old anthropologist.
Now I do. Yik Yak is a world within the world of my (and, it seems, every other) school. It's an app, an anonymous real time bulletin board that follows you to whatever location you are - so, if I'm at FIU, I see a constant feed of new "Yaks" from around FIU. There are about 20 per minute, and all of them can be upvoted, downvoted or replied to. Frequently upvoted posts go to the "Hot" page, which is all some people check, since as it is there are a few dozen hot posts per hour.
As I sat in my Psych of Parenting class, where there are about 75 students in stadium-style rows of seats, my teacher droned on and on as everyone looked at their phones. Today, I was looking at Yik Yak for the first time so I got to see the conversation unfolding:
"This Psych of Parenting teacher actually thinks someone is listening to her."
"OMG dude in Psych of P 2nd row stop sniffling and just blow your fucking nose." (heavily downvoted)
"Those girls in the top row of Psych of P are SO HOT."
"WHO IS SAYING THAT the girls in the top row wanna know who is into them!"
Huh. It's like everyone is simultaneously passing notes to everyone else, but the teacher doesn't even know "notes" exist.
There are also Yaks from all around school popping up, and from in other classes.
"Why is there a robot outside blue garage?"
"Whoever the fuck is throwing paper towels all over the GC bathrooms needs to knock that shit off"
"Girl in the purple tank top with the tie dye back pack can get it, hit me up"
"I think I found the robot owner"
"I've got a jean jacket and black shorts, find me and I'll give you a dollar"
"Anybody on the 3rd floor of PG5 have a light? I'll spark you up."
"Idiot in the gray Civic by old dorms just backed into the same tree twice SMH"
"OH SNAP free doughtnuts by the library don't say I never hooked you up"
"I have to see this robot"
"We got people on scooters, skateboards, roller skates, and bicycles all up in this campus I ain't even gonna be surprised when I see the first one driving their car from class to class"
Because it is the internet, they also argued about racism continuously. Probably the funniest thing I saw was someone who claimed to have her boyfriend on Cuban lockdown, and called it Guantanamo Bae.
I'm sort of amazed and feel like a crotchety old anthropologist.
