There is a reason Yik Yak is blocked at schools.

The first rule of the app, which allows users to write  anonymous 200-character posts, is, “You do not bully or specifically target other yakkers.” The second rule repeats the first. These rules appear when users first download the app.

In theory these rules sound great, but the problem is they are broken on a daily basis by users, or “yakkers” when people post using abusive “yaks.”

“Each grade has the person with the nice house and the nice stuff and throws good parties, but nobody sincerely likes them,” said one anonymous post. Then various people replied with different names of their peers they felt fit this statement.

Students are abusing the fact that yaks are anonymous. The students posting about others don’t have to witness how it affects the person they are writing about or have to deal with the consequences.

The yaks one can view depend on the area in which a user is located in. While in Northbrook users can only view Yaks posted in Northbrook. Any user can “up” a yak or “down” a yak, and if it gets more than five “downs” it is automatically deleted.

When I downloaded the app I assumed there would be almost no posts making fun of others.

I was very wrong.

Many of the post were just harmless yaks praising our principal, Paul Pryma or silly jokes, but instead I was appalled to see posts including full names along with extremely negative and hurtful words. I scrolled through them and found myself more and more disappointed in my peers.

Our school  is not shy to cyberbullying, thinking back to “#LetsMakeItAwkward” on Twitter, when people tweeted personal information about their friends, making them and others feel uncomfortable. Because those were tweets and we knew who was posting it. However with “Yik Yak,” users are given the perfect opportunity to slander others with it and not get the blame for their posts.

Some students use “Yik Yak” as an outlet to emotionally toy with others. When somebody chooses to write a hurtful post, that person does so knowing that someone else’s feelings could be hurt, all for a few “ups.” We’re suppose to be proud to attend our school, but it is hard to do so while seeing yaks about each other in such a negative light.