By Madison Smith, Managing editor of content

As if the world of unfiltered gossip couldn’t get any worse, the app Fizz has decided to take center stage as the latest degrading hellscape for everyone’s most cowardly thoughts. It promises conversation, but what it really delivers is a digital soapbox for the shameful. 

The problem with anonymous posting apps isn’t complicated: they strip away accountability and hand people a free pass to say whatever they want without consequences. That combination has never produced anything close to meaningful. Instead, it turns into an arena for the kind of commentary no one would dare to say out loud.  

We’ve seen all this before. YikYak, back in 2013, was the original cautionary tale of how quickly an “anonymous campus app” can spiral into chaos. Students across the country found themselves at the mercy of anonymous cruelty, and universities scrambling to deal with the fallout. With YikYak’s recent return and update to their terms, one would think the popularity of this type of app had subsided but unfortunately, we’re doomed to repeat history until someone learns that taking the names off words doesn’t make communities stronger.  

Fizz officially entered the Montevallo conversation at the start of this academic year, and the results have been as predictable as they are exhausting. Fizz has quickly devolved into a dumping ground of degenerate thoughts and shallow commentary disguised as “engagement.”  

The saddest part of this, is that the people posting on these types of anonymous apps, are simply looking for a way to be heard. Their desperate cries into the wilderness reek of neglect and the need for validation. An upvote on Fizz, is likely the only positive feedback they receive in their day-to-day lives.  

Instead of turning to an anonymous feed for temporary validation, students would be better served by opening up to a trusted professional. These are people trained to listen, provide perspective, and offer real plans for coping. Genuine connection and professional guidance can nurture growth and healing in ways an anonymous post never could. 

Fizz and YikYak promote being a coward. Why tell that girl you saw in the cafe that she’s pretty, when you can post it anonymously for everyone to praise how sweet you are instead?  

These apps chip away at genuine human interaction. Instead of being bold enough to share our thoughts face-to-face, we hope strangers will validate us. What should be conversations with friends and peers turn into empty scrolls for praise from faceless profiles. 

If you’re an active participant on Fizz, here’s the uncomfortable question: are you actually funny if no one knows you made the joke? Humor loses its edge when stripped of accountability. 

But this isn’t just about one app. It’s about the cost of choosing entertainment over empathy. Montevallo deserves better than another recycling experiment in digital idiocy. The real question is whether we’ll finally learn from this pattern, or we can keep handing the microphone to cowards.