Honesty or Trash-Talk?

You wake up from a good night’s sleep, reach for your phone, and check out your social media. Your best friend is complaining on Snapchat yet again, your aunt has posted some new puppy photos on Facebook, and all seems right with the world. But wait; you forgot to check Sarahah. Your heart sinks as you ask yourself, “Who in the world sent me this mean message?”

The Sarahah app was developed by Saudi programmer Zain al-Abidin Tawfiq. According to an article appearing in BuzzFeed, his idea was originally for workers to leave anonymous comments and feedback about their bosses. He then realized that it would be interesting for anyone to use. The app first became available through the App Store in early June 2017. The same article explained how its popularity began in Saudi Arabia, spread to Canada and the U.S., and is currently blowing up in India.

Of four 9th and 10th grade students interviewed, all were familiar with and have used the app. Two out of the four stated that they think more people use this app for negative comments than positive ones.

“[More people use it] for negative comments... like people can’t grow up and say things to your face that are rude. They just do it behind a screen and hide who they are,” offered 10th grade Sarahah user, Leighann Gallant.

Clayton Meriam, grade 10, agreed: “I don’t think it should be a thing. I think many rumors can be spread by using it, and I think, why use that? Why use an anonymous messaging thing when you can just tell the person to their [sic] face?”

The four students were asked to rate the app on a scale of 1 to 10 on how likely the app can be used to bully others. Each student rated the likelihood at least an 8.

Meriam went on to say, “8. Solid 8. Maybe 8.1, 8.2 'cause like, I wouldn’t do it myself, but there’s probably people that go out there and just hate on someone and, like, they do it, and they’re just gonna go *punching gesture*. Ya know? They’re just gonna talk sh!* and they’re just gonna spread rumors and do sh!* like that. Ya know?”

9th grader, Victoria Decker, said, “I think it’s pretty stupid. It’s just a way to start fake drama with each other. It just makes people self-conscious.”

Her brother, 10th grader Jamie Decker, agreed. “It’s really easy to bully someone on the app because it’s anonymous.”

This isn’t the first anonymous app that has been introduced to the App Store. Back in June 2010, an app came out called Ask.fm. The app was similar to Sarahah, but this time users were allowed to choose whether they wanted their messages to be anonymous, and the receiver of the message was allowed to answer or decline to answer.

The After-School app came out in November 2014. Users had to verify that they were students by choosing their school and logging into Facebook. With this app, users didn’t comment on one person’s account for just them to see, they wrote whatever they wanted for the whole school to see.

Finally, on August 3rd 2017, the app Tbh was released. Students choose their school, and make a profile. Then the app presents a statement and users get an opportunity to choose out of 4 students, which student is “more likely” to do or be what the statement is.

Is it a coincidence that these apps generally come out just in time for a new school year to start? Perhaps not. Interestingly, in Arabic, "sarahah" means "frankness or honesty." That's all well and good, but the problem is, too many teens confuse "honesty" with meanness.