The Yik Yak-ers who made up Carmel street overdose should be ashamed

It makes you question what sort of person jokes about student death – especially when Queen’s has suffered several this year.

Yesterday, rumours spread of a drug-related student death in the Holylands after Yik Yak users sent messages claiming roads were being blocked off. Yaks were posted from supposed witnesses who claimed they saw a body bag being carried out of a Carmel Street house.

Contrary to posts on Yik Yak, Carmel Street was not cordoned off

The news spread to Facebook where people questioned who the student was, and if they knew them. Some Yik Yak users even slammed jokers on the app, claiming they knew the deceased and that they were comforting grievers.

However, the road hadn’t been blocked off, the police hadn’t been called and seemingly, no one had even died. It was all just a joke.

Not you’re not sitting with his sister, because he doesn’t exist

The issue isn’t that the tales had been made up, or the fact that is was meant as a prank – albeit the idea of joking about death is definitely questionable. But the problem is that people believed it, and it didn’t stop Yik Yak users from escalating the rumours.

The app users abused their anonymity to diminish drug related deaths to nothing more than a cheap joke. They wouldn’t dream of doing it if their identities weren’t hidden, so why should they be allowed to post poisonous lies without consequences? Because of this lack of accountability, the people who make jokes about death on the app don’t consider the implications or insensitivity of the subject – or the fact that over the past academic year Queen’s has suffered several unexpected student deaths.

This is not okay

To take something as serious as a fatal drug overdose and turn it into a sick joke begs the question of what sort of people are using the anonymous app and whether the anonymity should be wavered in these situations. Yik Yak creates a toxic environment where people feel as though they are not accountable for what they post, and this breeds a host of negativity and bullying.

The fact is that the joke wasn’t contained to Yik Yak and was not funny.  Concerned students took to various social media sites to question what had actually happened, and there are people who are still unsure as to whether anyone did die.

Drug related deaths are not a joke, and ultimately, the people spreading these sick rumours should be stripped of their anonymity.