Opinion | YikYak is bringing out the worst in UI students

Opinion | YikYak is bringing out the worst in UI students Categories: Columns Opinions Opinion | YikYak is bringing out the worst in UI students Anonymous UI social media communities are filled with lots of harmful and unnecessary messages and shouldn’t be used. Jadyn Murvine, Opinions Columnist • October 14, 2026 Sarah Hughes Photo illustration. I deleted Yik Yak within 24 hours of downloading it. The posts ranged from strange to cruel to flat-out disturbing, and I still had a hard time looking away. It’s like a train wreck you can’t stop viewing. There are three main University of Iowa centered communities on social media. Snapchat and Instagram both work similarly. Anyone who verifies their UI email can join the community, allowing them to post and view stories from their personal accounts. But on Yik Yak, every user can post in their community from anonymous accounts.  That anonymity is harmful to our school community because it encourages a lack of accountability for one’s actions and words, leading to general hostility and discomfort among students. Because people can post without being attached to their words, they say things they wouldn’t normally. Most commonly, the UI thread is covered in people’s sexual desires, rude things about specific people, or just generally calling people out for things that should be handled privately.  Though I feel it shouldn’t have to be said, people should keep their sexual lives and desires to themselves. Strangely, it’s become extremely normal on this app to talk about things that should stay private. Not only is it gross, but it’s entirely unnecessary.  Sometimes, the comments get even worse. After a shooting in April of this year, users posted racist comments and slurs on YikYak. Similar comments were made on Instagram and Facebook, but through burner accounts.  When someone’s identity is removed from their words, it creates an extreme example of the online disinhibition effect. John Suler, Professor of Psychology at Rider University, wrote about this in his paper “The Online Disinhibition Effect.” Suler said that people act out more frequently and more intensely online than they would in person. “Anonymity is one of the principle factors that creates the disinhibition effect. When people have the opportunity to separate their actions online from their in-person lifestyle and identity, they feel less vulnerable about self-disclosing and acting out,” Suler said.  When lots of people are roped into situations that don’t involve them, things can become volatile quickly. By posting personal complaints in a public forum, people who are outsiders to the situation become involved by reading or commenting on the post. It can be extremely harmful if posts get specific enough to identify someone.  For example, if someone posted that someone stole from them, and all the comments are people talking about how awful that person must be. If that person is then identified, they could potentially face danger depending on how people react. And because the original poster was anonymous, there’s no way to guarantee they were telling the truth.  Anonymity in general isn’t always a bad thing. The issue is specifically an entirely anonymous platform. Anonymity can be a great way to share real opinions or ask real questions. First-year UI student Isaiah Ferguson finds it much easier to share his thoughts anonymously. “I’d want to post more of my serious opinions and just complaints about everything in general if I were anonymous because it wouldn’t affect my day-to-day life and I wouldn’t have to worry about conflicting opinions with people close to me,” Ferguson said. But that is where the line should be drawn.  A 2019 EBSCO Research Starters article by Marie Gould and Alexandra Howson explains how group settings can reduce people’s sense of individual responsibility, a phenomenon known as deindividuation.  According to Gould and Howson, deindividuation is the process in which individuals conform to groups, effectively losing their individual identities and reacting to situations based on the group atmosphere. Not only do people lack responsibility for their actions, but the large, active community on YikYak can cause lots of people to disconnect from themselves and follow the crowd. The platform strongly encourages a community and a group mindset by connecting everyone to each other’s opinions.  “A person’s personality and behavior may become anti-normative in crowd scenarios and focus on explaining why the average rational person can allow an incited crowd to change his or her normal behavior,” Gould and Howson said. It comes down to accountability. Future careers and relationships will all require maturity and accountability, so how can we possibly learn to hold ourselves accountable for what we say if we’re hiding behind a veil of anonymity? Anonymity has its place. However, it can be extremely harmful when an entire platform revolves around it. People need to be held accountable for what they say and learn to keep certain things to themselves. 0 Like This Story Share on Facebook Share on X Email this Story Print this Story More to Discover More in Columns Campus debates make a harvest of student humiliation Opinion | We don’t need to “trade” on everything Opinion | Hotels need to stop taking advantage of parents More in Opinions Opinion | Political ads are burning out voters Opinion | Being under the influence is not an automatic yes Opinion | The loudest cheers I’ve ever heard About the Contributor Jadyn Murvine she/her Jadyn Murvine is a first-year student at the University of Iowa double majoring in Journalism and Mass Communications and Art. This is Jadyn’s first year working for the Daily Iowan as an opinions columnist but her fifth year of being a student journalist. When not in the newsroom, she is likely painting or reading.