Citation

Burke C, Bloss C. J. Med. Internet. Res. 2020; 22(11): e22612.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2020, Centre for Global eHealth Innovation)

DOI

10.2196/22612

PMID

33179599

Abstract

Growing public concern about student safety and well-being has led schools and school districts to contract private companies to implement new technologies that target and surveil students' activity on social media websites. Although innovative solutions for addressing student safety and health are needed, it is unclear whether the implementation of social media surveillance in schools is an effective strategy. Currently, there is no evidence to support the claims made by social media surveillance companies, as well as the schools that hire them, that these technologies can address the myriad of public health issues facing today's students. Instead, these digital surveillance systems may only serve to exacerbate the problems that youth-especially those from historically marginalized groups-already face.

Language: en

Keywords

adolescents; mental health; social media; surveillance; school safety; schools; privacy; public health; social media surveillance; students