Sometimes you go out looking for a fun experience, and sometimes the fun experience finds you.
About 6 or 7 months ago Yik Yak became popular on college campuses and at Winthrop University. Yik Yak is a social media application that allows students to post anonymously and read yaks that are posted in a nearby area.
For example Winthrop students can read Winthrop yaks because of the radius that surrounds the campus.
Last April Winthrop students may remember a Yik Yak story about a guy who was at Winthrop's amphitheater and appeared to be crying. Everyone has their own little ideas about what happened that night, including me. But I feel like I have a bit more insight than the rest because that person....was me. *gasp*
So for those who think they know what happened and for those who would just like to know, here is what really happened with the guy at the amphitheater.
The week of April 25th last year was a rough time for me. The campus minister of RUF (a campus ministry I attend) had announced he was leaving for a new job the day before and I was blindsided by it. I was frustrated, sad and confused.
Ever since I came to Winthrop, when I need to think, I went to the amphitheater to clear my head. So on April 25th, 2014 I was in the amphitheater and had just finished reading my Bible and praying. I decided to pull up Yik Yak on my phone (this is where the fun begins), just to see what people were saying, when I saw this.
followed immediately by
What I hadn't realized is two girls had been sitting at the bottom of the amphitheater the whole time. I was happy they were concerned about me, but did not want to make a big deal out of anything so I 'upped' the yaks and refreshed my feed. Here are the responses to the above yaks.
Wow. People seemed to be getting legitimately concerned. I didn't need anyone in their pajamas coming to check on me, because it wasn't that big of a deal, so I made the comment above.
As posts continued to come in I figured it would be best to 'attempt' to let people know what actually happened.
It is worth noting that some of the other posts this night were downright strange as well. One even included a potato going through an identity crisis.
Regardless, here are the responses to my Yak.
After a minute or two the two girls got up, which made me think they were coming to talk to me. As I tried to prepare myself for the upcoming conversation, Girl 1 looked at Girl 2 and said something along the lines of, "Hey look, watch this!" (<----This quote never ends well)
Girl 1 then ran toward a large tree, which had a branch hanging fairly close to the ground. She tried to jump on the underside of the branch, much like a sloth, which resulted in this.
Later Girl 1 reveled herself on Yik Yak
This night was far from ordinary and was beginning to seem a bit unreal.
For the next hour Yik Yak was flooded with posts about what was happening at the amphitheater.
First let's start with the people that were curious as to what was going on.
And here are the responses from people who thought they knew exactly what was going on.
What's funny about all these posts is that nobody had come and talked to me.
I can only imagine that from the perspective of the average Yik Yak user at Winthrop I was a severely depressed individual bawling my eyes out in the amphitheater, when all of a sudden a large group of people came over to console me, making me feel extremely uncomfortable.
Next are the yaks from the sappy, heart warmed individuals who were proud of their school, which also resulted in some confusion about the school newspaper.
(Replies below)
At this point, I lost it. I'm not sure I've laughed so hard in my life. Nobody had any idea what was going on, yet everyone thought they did.
Next came the dude who actually asked "Winthrop has an amphitheater? Where?"
Then along came someone who actually had some idea what happened, but we will come back to that.
About 45 minutes had passed at this point. I was still sitting at the top of the amphitheater laughing at the social media insanity unfolding before me.
Then, to make things crazier, about 8 or 9 people showed up with a boom box and started dancing.
I posted this, which then turned the amphitheater story into PARTY AT THE AMPHITHEATER.
Everyone was obviously at the amphitheater (or not).
No beer ever made it over, in fact, I'm pretty sure nobody who said they would come on Yik Yak actually came. Nobody came and talked to me and nobody actually knew what was going on.
Now this is not to bash people for not coming and talking to me because I probably wouldn't have talked to me either. But why is that?
The simple answer is it's awkward and uncomfortable. My question is, what if it had been someone who actually needed help? Would anyone have come and talked to that person?
Yik Yak, while it somehow united people and made them feel good for a night is just a screen for people to hide behind and say things anonymously. I'm pretty sure most of the things people say they are going to do on Yik Yak don't actually happen.
Here is my ultimate example. On some of the Yaks I posted there was a post that said something about a positive Yik Yak meet up happening the next day at 1 pm.
So the next day I posted to Yik Yak to see if anyone actually went.
The responses were exactly what I expected them to be.
Yik Yak is all talk and no walk. It can be funny at times but you have to be careful about you read and believe.
When I retell this story I always include two things. 1.) How absolutely hilarious and unpredictable it was and 2.) How everyone kept saying they were going to talk to me or come to the amphitheater and nobody ever did.
I ended up going down and talking to those people and dancing with them. I made some cool friends and it was definitely a pick-me-up/distraction in the midst of a rough week.
So now you know what happened on April 25th at the Winthrop amphitheater.
(Comments in red beside the yaks are comments I made after the fact meant to be humorous and provide context)
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