Is Fizz Interfering With The College Experience?
posted by Breasia Williams | November 21, 2023 | In OpinionFizz, the anonymous social media platform, made its entrance onto Fayetteville State University’s campus this fall semester, and has sparked a lot of talk amongst students since. It has become controversial whether this app is a good addition to our student culture, or not.
For those of you who don’t know, Fizz is a social media platform where people are able to post their thoughts, pictures, and videos under an account that simply presents as “anonymous.” The profile is linked to your school account, and only people on FSU’s campus are able to engage with your posts as an FSU associated user.
Originally, students were eager to engage in this new platform, as it seemed like a good way to connect with our peers and strengthen our campus community. Of course, there are good things happening on Fizz such as shared campus jokes, promotion of campus events, and the uplifting of each other through compliments, refizzes (reposts), and upfizzes (likes).
However, with the good comes the bad, and FSU has seen a lot of bad on this app in a short period of time. There have been a couple of incidents of cyberbullying, disrespect to individuals and organizations on campus, and a lot of inappropriate (and not to mention, inaccurate) gossip. While these may be jokes to some, the people and groups that are targeted can really be affected mentally, emotionally, and socially by this disrespect.
The anonymous feature on the app enhances the level to which this bullying and disrespect is shown because it is a known fact that behind masks, people do and say things they wouldn’t normally do and say if their identity was shown. Some may say that the setup of the app isn’t the problem, but rather the misuse of its purpose by students engaging in this platform. So, what do we do about this? Does the good outweigh the bad or is this app posing a problem within student culture?
After all, it is everyone’s personal choice as to whether they want to engage in the app or not. However, this does not stop certain people or groups from being targeted on this app and word can travel fast, by mouth and with the use of screenshots. Those who use this app should remember that nobody came to school to be bullied and it is important to be kind to our fellow Broncos, at the least, as we are all not only dealing with the stress of school, but our individual personal lives as well.
Photo Courtesy of The Stanford Daily.
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