In a time of suicides and depression, here's a guide to the latest apps that could harm a teen's self-esteem
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Sayat.me works because people like getting feedback about themselves. They want to know what people think about them," says a 14-year-old Lokhandwala teenager, who we are chatting with on Instagram. She has a link to Sayat.Me on her account, which is a web tool designed to "get anonymous and honest feedback about yourself".
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Most popular with teenagers, Sayat.me lets people send you their opinion, without knowing who they are. "They think they will only receive good feedback, but most people are taking advantage of this [anonymity] and sending vile and lewd comments. One of my friends got a comment that said 'you have nice b****, I would love to play with them. But, it's addictive. My parents don't know I use the app."
Another 15-year-old from Versova, has a nonchalant spin on why every teen is using it. "It's like any other app. You are using it because your friends are using it. It's supposed to be a 'feel good' app, but most of the feedback borders on objectionable. Many girls have got messages from their 'admirers' saying 'they would harm themselves' if their love wasn't reciprocated."
In the world that we live, where one bad review could lead to disaster, why would an app encourage "anonymous feedback". When we got in touch with the Sayat.me team, they were of the opinion that it's a "simple tool to gather honest and constructive feedback. Being able to get feedback is getting pivotal in business and self-development."
A team member, Hanna Talving, told us over email, "We can see from the posts all around the social networks that vast majority of Sayat.Me users are motivated by the positive words their friends, acquaintances or followers say. If the tool gets misused for the purposes that they are not supposed to be used for, that is a very small fraction of people we are talking about. We are currently working on the issue and developing some means to eliminate this behaviour."
Sayat.Me, which is an American company, Talving says, has recently become a trending topic amongst Indian users with millions of users visiting the site in a day. "The bigger we get, so is our team.
The bigger we get the better we're able to prevent any negative issues that come with managing social platforms," she says.
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