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Accepted for/Published in: Journal of Medical Internet Research

Date Submitted: Jul 17, 2020
Date Accepted: Sep 30, 2020

The final, peer-reviewed published version of this preprint can be found here:

Social Media Surveillance in Schools: Rethinking Public Health Interventions in the Digital Age

Burke C, Bloss C

Social Media Surveillance in Schools: Rethinking Public Health Interventions in the Digital Age

J Med Internet Res 2020;22(11):e22612

DOI: 10.2196/22612

PMID: 33179599

PMCID: 7691090

Social Media Surveillance in Schools: Re-thinking Public Health Interventions in the Digital Age

  • Colin Burke; 
  • Cinnamon Bloss

ABSTRACT

Growing public concern about student safety and well-being has led schools and school districts to contract with private companies to implement new technologies that target and surveil students’ activity on social media websites. While innovative solutions to address 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.


 Citation

Please cite as:

Burke C, Bloss C

Social Media Surveillance in Schools: Rethinking Public Health Interventions in the Digital Age

J Med Internet Res 2020;22(11):e22612

DOI: 10.2196/22612

PMID: 33179599

PMCID: 7691090

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