Writing in the New York Times, a self-described helicopter parent has detailed her leap from the hovering aircraft and right into the saddle of a nosy quadruped: an anonymous message-board app called Yik Yak. Yik Yak lets people within set places (like a college campus) contribute anonymously to a scrolling feed. The app offers a peeking function that lets creeps (parents) have access to feeds from other places.
Apparently, parents are sustaining their curiosity about college life by peeking at campus feeds. They’re learning so much. The spy says that parents can learn that their college kids are preoccupied by: sex, drugs, pooping, fast food, campus activism, relationship problems, the weather, sleep deprivation, shoddy toilet paper, shitty roommates. So, in sum, parents can learn that nothing has changed about college.
Except the slang, which, as the mother pridefully notes, she has learned: “Netflix is bae.” Particularly bae when you’re using your parents’ Netflix account, so thanks, moms: Spy all you like, just let us know if you change your password.
