Photo: weheartit
Weird.
By Carrie Budd — Written on Aug 07, 2017
Suddenly all of my Facebook friends seem to be drawn to the new anonymous messaging service/"honesty app" known as Sarahah.
Here are the basics if you haven't heard of it and are wondering to yourself, "What is Sarahah?!"
Welp, it's a brand spanking new app that was launched in February of 2017 and has been sitting grandly in the number one spot in the iTunes App Store in over 30 countries, even above major names like Facebook and YouTube. It was developed by Saudi Arabian business analyst Zain Alabdin Tawfiq as a tool for companies to provide constructive feedback to employees. Sarahah loosely translates to the equivalent of honesty/frankly/speaking openly.
And kids and adults are downloading it and using it like crazy!
As detailed further in AdWeek:
"Sarahah allows users to leave anonymous messages on other users’ profiles. Once a user registers for an account, they can share their profile link with friends (or post it publicly), and anyone with this link can share messages to their profile. The app doesn’t allow users to reply to messages, nor can they see who a message is from unless the sender includes their name in the message..."
"Sarahah’s iTunes description says the app will help users discover their 'strengths and areas for improvement by receiving honest feedback from [their] employees and [their] friends in a private manner.'”
I can sort of see the appeal.
It’s nice to get compliments when you are having a bad day. I’ll admit that I was slightly tempted to register for an account and give it a try for myself.
But the more I thought about it, the more I realized why it's just kind of silly.
Let me be clear. I don’t think my friends are silly for using it.
If someone needs a self-esteem or ego boost, then good for them for reaching out to get it fulfilled. I was happy to send some cute, but mostly funny/inappropriate messages to my friends and give them that boost. Yeah, I played along. I just didn’t create a profile for myself.
The fact that everyone I saw inviting others to join seemed to feel obligated to remind their own friends to “be nice” when sending messages speaks volumes, IMO, about the problems that all too easily and frequently accompany anonymity on the Internet to begin with.
And my BIG issue is that we live in a society where this is even a necessity.
The fact that we feel the need to hide behind anonymity to give our friends a nice compliment is just sad.
Why are we so scared of telling people our true feelings? If everyone just said what was on their mind, do you know how much easier it would be to navigate this society?
Do you know how much less anxious I would be personally on a day-to-day basis if people would just tell me what they're thinking about me?!
For example:
You think someone is cute? Tell them!
Your friend has a particular quality you envy or you like their sense of humor? Tell them!
You have a crush on someone? Tell them!
Honestly, what’s the worst that could happen?
You could find out right away that the feeling isn’t mutual instead of agonizing over it for a period of months, all the while wondering if they might feel the same way about you as you do about them, only to have the opportunity slip out from just beneath your grasp as you watch them launch what will surely be a beautiful relationship with someone else...
So... Anyway, I feel like this should be the standard rule of practice, not the exception.
I realize it’s not always easy to speak up and allow yourself to be vulnerable, but nothing that is worth doing ever comes easily.
I wish people would tell me these things without my having to prompt them to do it. It would be nice to hear these things more often. It might even make concentrating on the positive rewards of life a little more manageable if we chose to speak freely about these things as our customary way of being.
Can't we all just agree as a collective society to be more forthright?
If someone tells me my butt looks great in them new jeans, I promise I’m not going to shame them or make them feel bad for it.
It's going to make my day, and thereby make me want to make the day of others around me so I can spread the love.
And who knows? Maybe if you tell someone you're secretly crushing on them, you'll find out that they are secretly crushing on you too, and it could end in your very own happily ever after!
Either way, it’s typically a nice feeling to be liked or to be complimented.
Let’s all spread the positivity a little more.
If there's one thing that this world does not have in excess right now, it is positivity to be sure.
Carrie Budd is a single mother with a passion for helping others, as well as the gifts of a sharp mind and raw sense of humor. Carrie discovered her knack for giving relationship advice while driving for Uber in a college-town, of all things, and she finds great joy in empowering women to find the strength to forge ahead when all hope seems lost.
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