Investors, religious folk, politicians and parents all have one thing in common: they believe that children are the future. Whatever that eventually means for your funds, your local place of worship, the ballot box, or your kid hauler, you can expect today’s young’uns to have one immediate place of influence: your phone.
It can be tough to keep up with what’s popular with the next generation — much less, what’s popular in technology — but geezers (which in this case means anyone over 25) can take heart in the fact that much of what’s popular now is rooted in the past. We’re very much still figuring out where smartphones fit into our lives — but looking at what’s popular among darn kids provides a surprisingly clear idea of where things could go. And don’t fear becoming the parents who made Facebook uncool; there’s plenty for a discerning adult to enjoy here.
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Yik Yak
Yik Yak has already been the subject of wide scrutiny among parental advocacy groups and national publications. The reason, as is usual with anonymous online communities, is cyberbullying. Yik Yak is essentially a regionally based Twitter that adopts Reddit’s voting system and does not require handles. Like Facebook before it, Yik Yak was designed by college students for college students, but it trickled down the age groups, eventually reaching middle schools. The cyberbullying problem became so rampant that middle and high schools are now “geofenced” in such a way that Yik Yak is unusable within their walls. That’s a big help; while a user can view Yaks from anywhere (without being able to respond or vote), the point of Yik Yak is to see what people are saying around you, and naturally, bullying is centralized within schools.
With that hurdle more or less cleared, Yik Yak’s next challenge is to expand beyond the predominantly college-aged audience it initially set out to court. A Yik Yak feed can often be a wasteland of undergrad banality (“Whose in prof davis lecture?”); booty call-related brags, solicitations or advice (“Is bomb sex and pussy worth putting up with a crazy chick who’s down for you?”); sprinkles of existential terror (“My worst fear is eternal nothingness”); and the occasional hate speech. With its regional focus, Yik Yak has the potential to be something truly fascinating. The Internet at large is praised for both enabling users to connect with users from “around the world” and a stone’s throw away, but it often seems the former receives more attention. The app’s locality creates potential for community dialog and engagement, and its anonymity enables users to speak without fear of reprobation (beyond downvoting). But for now its growth feels a little stunted by the prolonged adolescence of its user base. Hopefully it can see that potential through, lest a successor with a similar ethos swoop in and finish the job. yikyakapp.com
