The Academy

The Zip Zap app symbolizes the idea of power and control through knowledge. Although gossip is a potential issue in all aspects of life, the idea of it facilitated by an application that is instantaneous and anonymous emphasizes how much more dangerous it is in the age of social media. This symbolism conveys the theme of The Impact of Secrecy and Gossip. As the several students and staff fall victim to the information on the app, it becomes clear just how dangerous it is for people to hold secrets and information over others. While students share information through email or via text, thereby believing that they have security, the actions of Levi and Grady remind the students how nothing related to technology is ever truly secret. Although the students are in some ways guilty of keeping secrets or being dishonest, the vicious way that the information is spread—then used by the other students as a form of ridicule or isolation—emphasizes just how dangerous private information can be in the wrong hands. In the end, the fact that it was two unknown students who spread the information and no reason was directly given for their actions emphasizes the universality of this problem.