Social Media Monitoring
Are there some rights that come into conflict in this context? If so, what are they? What is the appropriate balance to strike between them? Why?
When school administration engages in monitoring students’ social media accounts, some rights conflict with this practice; every person has the right to freedom of speech. They are allowed to express what they feel through their social media accounts. Social media accounts are personal accounts, calling for the exercise of privacy for the user information. There are better steps that schools can implement to solve these problems; this includes steps like encouraging troubled students to consult the school counselor. According to Haggis (2017), interactions between adults and students can very much influence student behavior. The appropriate balance to strike between this conflict is educating students on the need to speak out and find help if they feel troubled. Opening up to a counselor or a teacher would be more helpful to a student as opposed to profiling based on social media posts.
Do efforts like the social media monitoring serve the common good? Why, or why not? For a brief explanation of this concept, read “The Common Good.”
Efforts like social media monitoring do serve as a common good as they compose efforts set up to try and protect the general public. The conditions set are equal and to everyone’s advantage. One of the major reasons schools started to monitor social media accounts was to control the things that students post (Butkus, 2020). School administrations can identify incidences of cyberbullying and come up with control measures before they cause damage. In a way, social media monitoring serves as a common good since it offers protection to the student population and the general public.
Does the fact that the social media posts being analyzed are public impact your analysis of the use of the monitoring technology? If so, in what way(s)?
Social media post monitoring has impacted my analysis of the use of the monitoring technology. I have learned that I can use this technology to monitor my competitors in business and ensure that I learn some of their business tricks to become successful. Also, I have realized that I can monitor my friends’ and peers’ activities on social media and determine their thinking and plans.
Should universities not just notify students but also ask them for their input before implementing monitoring of student social media accounts? Why or why not?
In my opinion, universities should not notify students or ask them about their input on social media monitoring. Notifying students of monitoring programs being implemented would result in the students acting abnormally, which would render the monitoring program ineffective. In addition, notifying the students would not be a good idea since students may fail to speak out if they are facing challenges to avoid misinterpretation. Others may feel that their privacy is being invaded and avoid the use of social media accounts. Lastly, they will feel that they might end up being judged through their social media posts, or their private information will not be safe.
Should high schools ask students for their input? Should they ask the students’ parents for consent? Why or why not?
I don’t think it’d be the best approach to ask high school students for their input on social media monitoring. Policy developers can instead ask the student’s parents about what they feel about the whole thing. The reason is that if students are asked, they are likely to be against the program. In addition, most high school students are in their teenage years and considered minors under the law. However, parents want the best for their children, which means they will offer the best idea of what they think is safe and right for their children.
If the law warranting schools “to notify students and parents if they are even considering a monitoring program” (Raicu, 2018) were to be passed in all states, it would likely diminish all the concerns I had about social media monitoring practices. For once, the students will be notified so they will not feel as if their privacy is being invaded. Secondly, the school will only monitor the accounts while the students are in the institutions and are below eighteen. The institution will no longer monitor the accounts if the student leaves the district. I believe these laws are for the welfare of the students and the community at large. Under this law, students will not have a chance to content capable of harming their classmates or the people around them.
Reference
Butkus, S. L. (2020). Investigating School Shootings from 1996 to 2019 for Processes Needed to Prevent and Respond to Future School Shootings: A Case Study (Doctoral dissertation, Northcentral University).
https://www.scu.edu/ethics/privacy/case-study-on-online-privacy/
Haggis, D. (2017). Influencing Positive Outcomes For Troubled Youth. Contemporary Issues In Education Research (CIER), 10(3), 179-184. doi: 10.19030/cier.v10i3.9978
Raicu, I. (2018). Privacy, Technology, and School Shootings: An Ethics Case Study. Retrieved 1 May 2021, from https://www.scu.edu/ethics/privacy/case-study-on-online-privacy/
ORDER A PLAGIARISM-FREE PAPER HERE
We’ll write everything from scratch
Question
Privacy, Technology, and School Shootings: An Ethics Case Study
Please read the case study.