In a digital age where friends can be reached instantaneously, social media allows us to share our thoughts for the entire world to see. At Harvard, these thoughts often make it over to Sidechat—a college-specific app that allows users to access and upload posts reflecting what’s on fellow undergrads’ minds. With some posts getting upwards of 1,000 upvotes, Sidechat’s broad reach within the student body is undisputed. Like many other social media platforms, Sidechat has benefits and deficits, ranging from the online community it fosters to the feelings of unworthiness and stress it inflicts. Chiming in on the dual nature of Sidechat, Ben and Raina give their stances below on the social media platform.
Ben: I quit Sidechat a few months ago. While I don’t think Sidechat is intentionally evil in its creation, it provides a platform for already competitive students to amplify their stress and fuel a toxic environment. Lumped in with Instagram, TikTok, and Snapchat, Sidechat is just another engine for “doomscrolling,” a way to turn off your brain and see which problems the rest of the student body is currently wrangling with. But unlike scrolling on other platforms, Sidechat narrows down these worries to the place you study and socialize every day, reinforcing campus-wide stress through the app—something I wanted nothing to do with.
Raina: I think that Sidechat adds to the Harvard experience and provides a platform for solidarity. Especially between finals season approaching and the growing anxieties surrounding today’s political climate, it serves multiple purposes: a source of comedy, news, or an alternative to Instagram reels.
But Sidechat isn’t all just gloom and doom. While there are a lot of people who use Sidechat as an anonymous diary, only reinforcing the stress and competition that comes with common grant applications or job interviews, there are also many users who post to spread positivity.
For example, someone posted a picture from the Lowell Courtyard because an owl was spotted on a tree branch. Or, thinking back to the beginning of the term, what about the countless photos that spread happiness and joy when we had our first snow! And then, of course, the rainbow two weeks ago. Just like any other social media, while there’s a “dark side,” there’s also a more wholesome, light-hearted side that’s meant to lift your spirits. After all, the whole point of Sidechat is to encapsulate the average student experience and what’s on the minds of Harvard students at any given moment.
Ben: Still, the app magnifies the pressure we, as Harvard students, face. Whether its posts of sophomores rushing to find internships or seniors in the trenches writing their theses, Sidechat activates students’ impostor syndrome—feelings of unworthiness compared to peers—by making explicit the “rat race” towards success. In doing this, Sidechat lets those voices in your head of “I’m not doing enough” or even “I’m not good enough” speak their mind and increase those feelings of inferiority.
When I ask my friends who still use Sidechat why they keep coming back, the answer is almost always the same: “I dunno, it’s just funny.” Sure, when I was on the app, I’d sometimes come across a hilarious meme spinoff such as that of Dean Khurana’s “I Voted” Instagram post. But for every goofy joke, 20 other posts are there to complain about the injustices of Econ 1010a’s grading distribution. Even though I wasn’t in that class, I still felt drained reading student gripes about the same thing repeatedly, about the injustices of the grading curve and how their finance and consulting careers were “ruined.” Venting can be healthy, but when it becomes a negative externality on everyone reading your posts, its purpose gets muddled.
Raina: There’s definitely a line between sharing, venting, and dumping. While some posts are emotionally heavy and can lead to more emotional stress, others are just downright relatable. Now that finals season is approaching, Sidechat will soon be flooded with posts such as: “I was supposed to lock in today cause I’m behind in every single one of my classes, but it’s 6:30 p.m. and I’ve done absolutely nothing—zero, nada, zilch.”
Imagine the validation this person feels as they get upvotes, as it rises into the hundreds, or the many replies of “same” that will follow. Even for the passive observer like me, I feel like my burnout has been validated. There’s a certain comfort that comes from knowing that it’s normal to feel stressed, tired, overwhelmed, and anxious. Yes, college should be one fun, spontaneous adventure after the next, but it’s also okay if college is just late nights and libraries for a while, too. I feel less alone since there’s this sense of solidarity. While it may not seem like it on the outside, since everyone works so hard to appear put together—hey, at least I know that we’re all struggling through finals season together.
Ben: Ironically, this community feel on Sidechat is contrasted by its anonymity. Keeping identities private is a key aspect of the app, and initials are often used instead of full names (using a full name will typically get a post deleted). But in doing so, Sidechat joins a roster of other platforms where personal information is kept at bay, including Reddit and 4Chan. These sites have long attracted users who hide behind screens to spread anger and resentment, sometimes escalating to dangerous behavior like doxxing—publicly revealing personal information, which can lead to harassment or even violence.
As a result of this incognito setup, doxxing comes as a corollary to the app’s structure. Gossip about a certain person encourages nosy users to find out more, dig up past wrongdoings, and unfairly target doxx-ees. With such posts appearing day after day, this anonymous culture only serves to foster negativity and near cyberbullying—it’s no longer justified as just “ranting.”
Raina: Still, keeping identities private is a crucial part of the app because it allows students to be more honest when sharing opinions and spreading news. While it’s true that some people will take advantage of hiding behind a screen, seeing it as an opportunity to be mean, others see it as an opportunity to spread opinions without the fear of backlash. This applies to anything lighthearted, such as “my frontal lobe developed and suddenly I don’t have any urge to kiss a man anymore,” to something more heavy, such as discussions about the current governmental administration and the fear of deportation.
Recently, Sidechat has proven to be a useful source for spreading information and news. At 2:20 p.m. on April 20, an anonymous user posted to Sidechat: “URGENT: Just on the train at Harvard square, heard 3 shots, and there was a shooter who ran out of the train station! PLEASE be careful. He’s on the run.” This was 26 minutes before the Harvard Alert system sent a text message saying: “Transit Police are reporting shots fired at the Harvard Sq MBTA station.”
Since many students at the College buy into Sidechat and use it so frequently, it makes it a reliable and quick way to spread information. Especially in this situation, whereas Harvard’s response was delayed by almost 30 minutes, students were already texting warnings to each other. Students need a fast and efficient way to communicate with each other, and at Harvard, we’ve decided that it’s Sidechat.
Ben: Sure, but on a platform like Sidechat, where anyone can easily say anything they want without serious repercussions, there is a serious concern for misinformation and over exaggeration. On the day of the train shooting, yes, Sidechat was able to spread the news fast, but Sidechat also created false rumors just as fast. Despite the scary comments that followed the original post about blood or potential injuries, thankfully, no one was hurt during the incident. Vague descriptions of what the shooter allegedly looked like and in which direction they went also circulated, yet this information had not been confirmed at the time. Posts can spiral into confusion and chaos as users read false accounts, distracting from the truth, instilling excessive fear and stress in students, before credible news organizations get to what actually happened.
In fact, rumors of an alleged ICE sighting in the Yard circulated just days before the MBTA incident—it was never verified. As one could expect, Sidechat did little to dispel these accounts, and only intensified the fear international students felt as the Trump administration threatens to end these students’ visas and deport the students on them. Spreading lies has real impacts on the student body in a time when many are concerned for their own safety and even ability to stay in the country, and may well be the most dangerous part of the social media platform.
Ben and Raina: It’s hard to deny the role that Sidechat plays in our Harvard experience. Whether students turn to Sidechat to find comedic relief, get anonymous advice, or just want a dopamine rush, it’s an app that everyone knows. Yet while Sidechat provides the opportunity for anonymous students to amplify toxic mindsets and create conflict, it’s also undeniable that it’s the most direct way for students to communicate with each other and reflects a wide array of student experiences at any given moment. In fact, the same could be said for near-universal social media platforms like Instagram and LinkedIn, where the digital “flourishing” projected by influencers or notable careerists amplifies the IRL worrying. So, should we still use Sidechat? It’s up to you, but Harvard likely wouldn’t be the same without it.
Ben Kaufman ’28 (benkaufman@college.harvard.edu) is totally fine with getting cancelled on Sidechat for this article. Raina Wang ’28 (rainawang@college.harvard.edu) can’t actually use Sidechat since she has an Android phone.