Although the Everytime app has its positive sides, the option to remain anonymous is bringing raising many concerns.
Everytime is a mobile application that is currently serviced at about 400 universities in Korea. The application maintains a closed community of the same university students as members can only sign up using their school ID information. Furthermore, Everytime has an open board section in the app where members can post feeds while staying anonymous.
Recently, there were many reports that showed the Everytime app not being able to serve its purpose. Uploads included negative or debatable feeds such as ‘The Difference Between Feminism and Megalia’ or opening a feed that picks on a specific group(s) of students. When the Student Council created the application back in Fall 2020, the purpose was to create an environment where students can communicate with one another and ask questions about the school. The option to remain anonymous has caused a lot of students to post feeds on the open board where they openly express their opinions.
Everytime application has been helping many students in many ways. Everytime allows students to ask questions while remaining anonymous and anyone can answer the question which allows for active communication and exchange between students. Furthermore, the anonymity of Everytime sets a field for students to give critical and effective feedback for decisions made by the school, Registered Student Organization (RSO), or the Student Council. This feature was also used in order for the student representatives to hear the voice of the students and to address the issues or complaints on short notice. If a student posts a question or an improvement for the school, this not only helps the student representatives to hear out, but other students who are facing similar issues or concerns can communicate with one another and find plans to resolve the issue.
Although there are positive aspects to the Everytime app, there are negative effects that the app is bringing. There are incidents of hate speech and cyberbullying posts on the app and students are aware of this issue. The option to remain anonymous has allowed for students to speak freely without the fear of the responsibility of their speech. Ever since last semester, there have been some posts about a specific student on the Everytime app. Due to his/her unprofessional actions, many students were referring to the specific student with a nickname. When the student’s mistakes were uploaded in the Everytime app, many students left anonymous comments that reflected the behaviors of the student as ‘unacceptable’. Although comments were pointing out the inappropriate actions the student took, since it was not directly confronted by the student, this issue can be seen as cyberbullying.
Furthermore, there are many international students who do not have Korean phone numbers and are limited to creating an account. This has created a barrier between the international students and the Mason Korea community. Moreover, since the Everytime app was initially made for students in universities based in Korea, the application does not have an English translation for students to choose from. One anonymous student who interviewed regarding this issue said, “I felt left out and I did not know that such a community existed before I was interviewed regarding this topic.” The exclusion of international students and the possibility of serving as a platform of cyberbullying are the negative aspects of the Everytime application. Everytime application opens up the stage for students to communicate actively with each other. For it to be utilized fully it is important for the application to limit hate speech and act in order to limit students from using anonymity to practice cyberbullying against other students or staff members. If these issues are adequately addressed, then Everytime will be a platform where students will be able to actively communicate with one another while not fearing to be judged by others due to their questions.
Written by Su A Cho, Staff Writer
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