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> Gaggle is one of the biggest players in today’s new economy of student surveillance, in which student work and behavior are scrutinized for indicators of viol
by mindgam3 7y ago
> Gaggle is one of the biggest players in today’s new economy of student surveillance, in which student work and behavior are scrutinized for indicators of violence or a mental health crisis, and profanity and sexuality are policed.
There has to be a way to reach so-called “troubled” kids without creating a culture of fear around expressing difficult emotions. This is part of a larger trend of parenting surveillance tech (ie Life360) that I find quite disturbing.
Schools seem much more willing to pay for newfangled tech rather than more trained counselors, for example. Outsourcing content moderation to low-paid contract workers is what gave us Facebook. I fear that these technologies will put a nice band-aid on the problem of student mental health while actually making it worse.
- AlexandrB 7y agoThis is a combination of CYA (“we did everything we could, we even surveilled all their communications”), and tech “magic” mentality: where new, unproven technologies are sold as an easy fix for complex societal issues. 10 years from now we’ll read about how none of this actually helped any kid in real crisis - but it’ll make a few school administrators feel good and in control for a few years. The bigger problem is that unlike previous similar boondoggles (see D.A.R.E.), this might have lasting consequences by acclimating a generation to constant surveillance.
- phnofive 7y agoI’d not be at all surprised to learn D.A.R.E. went a long way to vilifying drug users.
- lonelappde 7y agoPer the article, this tech is used so counselors can reach out to kids who aren't reaching out to counselors.