How honest are you ? Surely you don’t voice every passing thought but perhaps you catch yourself in the occasional white lie. As homo sapiens we are accustomed to keep our opinions about situations and people to ourselves. Fear of hurt or even negative consequences keep us in check.
But imagine the freedom of voicing your kindest and wickedest opinions without fear of retribution.
This is precisely the notion honesty apps capitalize on. Ask.fm started the trend of asking anonymous questions in 2010 and Sayat.me followed suit. The latter was created to beget productive feedback from co-workers and clients; however, it was vastly used by teenagers. Sayat.me soon tanked for cases of severe cyber bulling leading to an alleged suicide.
Sarahah, is the latest honesty app that has social media in a tizzy.
“It let me confess my feelings to my crush,” says 14-year-old Sanaya Bisht who has clearly bypassed the age restriction like many city teens.
Admitting to tomfoolery, Nishad Redhe says, “I complimented on a few girls, but also harassed a few of my pals for a joke. I intended to reveal myself, but the men were quite irate. So I choose to keep mum.”
Cautioning you about the app, Riteish Gokul (30) says, “Sign up only if you want to open a Pandora’s box. It is rarely good stuff, as people could compliment you to your face. But, give men a mask and it gets real nasty.”
Clearly all is not hunky dory with virtual confessions. Manik Sehgal from Pune’s LGBT community expounds. “Being openly gay has finally come to bite me in the butt. Some messages pronounce me ‘unnatural’ and a ‘shame on society’. Others abuse my family in horrific ways and propose that I fornicate with animals.
“It’s quite telling of the true nature of our society,” he says grimly hitting the nail right on the head.
Dhvani Mittal (28), another user further addresses the case of cyber bullying posing a grave question. “In cases of offensive comments and harassment, the matter could escalate quickly. Should a user take legal action, the authorities shall mandate that Sarahah disclose the identity or IP address of the bully. So, it really isn’t as anonymous as you would think.
Moving on to a conspiracy theory, Dhvani says, “Knowledge and leverage is power today. So, is it really hard to imagine that an app like Sarahah could misuse the information? Who’s to say, they don’t blackmail users about posts they made, posts threatening to oust them should they refuse to pay up. Would you really risk becoming a social pariah when your dirty little secrets are out!”
Avni Deshmukh (24), shares a different perspective. “What good is a private compliment if you can’t flaunt it to the world?” This popular belief has plainly made these applications powerfully addictive.
Social media ‘check-ins’ and selfie posts ignited a need for validation, but Honesty apps have furthered it. Expect your social media feed to be bombarded with screenshots of Sarahah messages cajoling your friends.
Luckily, Anshul Mittal an NIT Jaipur alumna has a solution. A Chrome plugin he designed shall banish ‘honest declarations’ from your social media feed.
#All respondent names changed to protect individual privacy. The views expressed in this are those of the respondents and Pune365 does not necessarily subscribe to them.
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