On September 3rd, The Today Show reported a new social media program named Snaptrends is making its way into school systems. Snaptrends is being used in
some Florida and California school districts to monitor student’s social media
accounts to prevent school violence. School officials, parents and students
have different views on this topic. Is monitoring student’s social media sites
an invasion of privacy?
Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and other social media sites
are a public forum. Anyone can see what students are posting with a few
keystrokes. Orange County Public Schools stated “because social media can
be the source of bullying, school threats or masked cries for help, we believe
it is appropriate to monitor public sites where anybody can view comments.” With
that being said, I agree with Orange County Schools. I do not think monitoring
student’s social media accounts while at school or on school property is an
invasion of privacy.
In this case, schools are also monitoring student’s
accounts while they are off school property. I think monitoring social
media accounts while students are at home could potentially be an invasion of
privacy. Student Brooke Lynn Radcliffe says when school administrators are
monitoring your accounts off-campus “is kind of like they’re inviting
themselves to sit at your kitchen table at Sunday dinner. It’s not okay.” Monitoring
what students do outside of school should be the responsibility of the parent,
not school administrators and officials.
Of course Snaptrends has a few issues that need improved.
For example, Snaptrends just combs through student’s social media looking for
key words like kill, gun, knife, etc. One problem is you don’t know the
tone of voice or the context of the situation which could lead to misinterpretation.
With recent tragedies like the Sandy Hook shooting and the Chardon High School shooting, it makes sense for schools to take extra precautions when it comes to protecting students and faculty. If any tragedy can be avoided by monitoring social media accounts, then so be it. It is better to be safe than sorry.
With recent tragedies like the Sandy Hook shooting and the Chardon High School shooting, it makes sense for schools to take extra precautions when it comes to protecting students and faculty. If any tragedy can be avoided by monitoring social media accounts, then so be it. It is better to be safe than sorry.
I would have to say from a student's point of view, I do not agree with this "snaptrends". I have multiple social media outlets and I do not put anything on my social media that is vulgar or inappropriate. But just because I don't put anything bad on there, doesn't mean that people have the right to stalk and snoop in my social and personal life if they aren't a friend of mine. I understand that bosses and professionals can look at an employees social media profile to look up valuable information about a potential employee, but what does it matter that if that person drinks on the weekend? Is someone going out and having a good time with a beer in their hand going to make them a bad employee? I don't think so, but that is just me. Good topic Allie, you definitely found a topic that can generate conversation.
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