Content warning: Sexual harrassment/rape & body dysmorphia
Amidst the sea of social media apps that have consumed the lives of college students, for better or for worse, a new competitor has emerged. Fizz is a social media application meant specifically for college students to express anonymous opinions. Because of this, the app contains an abundance of problems relating to cybersecurity, bullying, sexism and misinformation, as well as strongly contributing to social media addiction and its corresponding mental health repercussions. I have observed this first-hand with my own personal use of Fizz. As undergraduate students, we should direct our focus towards developing opinions of our own, not obsessing over the opinions of others.
Underneath the notion that social media is a “universal” leisure, there is a minimization of the social media obsession; an obsession that is not only driven by dopamine rushes but also by one’s insecurities about their lifestyle, identity, thoughts and/or physical appearance. Though some students are hired to moderate the content published on Fizz, the student moderators are not quick enough for the “chronic” Fizz user, constantly refreshing to see if there’s any hot, new gossip. As a result, the app fails to hold users accountable for spreading false or harmful information.
Students who have used the app recently have likely noticed an influx of sensitive content revolving around sexism, fatphobia, sexual assault and drug abuse. Upon opening the app, the user might expect some shade thrown at greek life or some posts about the “Mabee Norovirus,” but occasionally students will post content that is painfully uncomfortable and harmful. The most shocking example of this is a post published on September 15th, this last Sunday, in which an anonymous user said “Is it r*pe if you say sorry afterwards?” Thankfully, this post has since been reported and deleted, but was up long enough for me to have screenshotted it and for others to have witnessed it.
In a similar vein, I have also noticed an increase in users posting with the intent of “going against the mainstream” by posting insensitive content to get attention. At a certain point we must be able to recognize when we are posting or making statements solely to make people upset or angry. For example, posting things such as “I’m tired of being fat,” “ur def fat” or “would you date someone kinda ugly if you liked their personality?” may direct harm towards those who are prone to body dysmorphia and people lacking confidence generally. There have been studies that link psychiatric disorders to social media use because of problematic, insensitive posts like these.
Fizz also has a solid reputation for being unreliable in their enforcement of privacy. According to The Stanford Daily, the newspaper of the University where Fizz was originally founded, it was alleged that “Fizz did not have the necessary security rules set up, making it possible for anyone to query the database directly and access a significant amount of sensitive user data.” This means that the people who are posting harmful content or misinformation are at risk of their data and “anonymous” identity potentially being leaked. This has since been resolved by the company, but given Fizz’s track record with privacy, anonymity is never guaranteed.
College students, myself included, being at such a vulnerable age should, at the very least, recognize that Fizz is something that they should regulate their use of. Regardless of whether you’re a troll or you’re someone who is anxiously refreshing your feed, it is important to recognize that you are (likely) in college for the academic and social experience. Instead of forming your opinions based on what you think will get the most upvotes, it is far more important to ask yourself what it is that you really stand for.
