PART 1
In my reading of Social Work Boundary Issues in the Digital Age by Frederic Reamer, one part that particularly made me not just squirm but seethe was the sexual abuse and exploitation of clients by the social workers who were in charge of their care. I will heartily disagree with anyone taking the stance that it wasn’t as egregious or deliberately malicious as this. Truly, what a despicable and predatory thing to do to a client whose wellness is the professional’s ethical obligation. While some of the other boundary issues were a bit frustrating to read, nothing stood out to me as more troubling than this one. In some respects, I think it goes past a professional failing and into a moral one – regardless of the position, when you have power and influence over someone’s life, engaging them in an intimate relationship in addition to that power imbalance is insidious. In my own professional life, there were many instances of romantic advancement towards me by men in positions of authority over me. In many jobs, it was expected that sexual harassment or unwanted physical contact would be allowed and not spoken out against. Time and time again I lost jobs and career advancement opportunities because I refused these advances. So I wonder – how might a client feel, who is in need of support and service referral, when a social work practitioner makes such advancements? How might their fear of abandonment or concern over losing vital resources cloud their own judgement or self-determinism? It’s all too easy to envision myself in the client’s position, and doing so makes me deeply anguished and enraged on their behalf.
One area I both agree and disagree with Reamer is in the difficulty of practitioners to separate their personal and professional online presences. I have gone to great lengths to mostly remove myself from social media or make myself difficult to find – even those who have met me professionally in person as peers have been unable to do so. While I can understand that for some it’s difficult to separate their personal and professional lives, I think it’s ultimately in the best interest of both the client and practitioner to make their best effort to do so. It took me about 5 hours over a few months to do so with my own information. But, I also understand that when social media was first emerging it wasn’t an ethical consideration many had taken the time to work towards.
If I had to explain the matter to a client, I would insist that my professional and personal lives are completely separate matters. I’ve taken this stance for most of my life – I don’t befriend coworkers and I don’t engage in office romance. I do not discuss work off the clock. When I’m off the clock, I cannot be reached. This is deliberate on my part for my own mental health and well-being, and in no way reflects my care or concern for the client or their well-being. In fact, there are many resources available to the client besides myself should they find they are experiencing a crisis, and I will be happy to debrief with them when we’re next able to discuss their situation during my office hours. I think the kindest thing that you can do – for anyone in your life – is to establish clear and concise boundaries.
PART 2
One of the areas I want to focus on as a macro social worker entails the voting population in general for coalition building – so, that’s just about every demographic besides those discussed by Haidt & Rausch. If we consider that the majority of people 45 and under were teens during the advent and rise of social media, I think it’s fair to reason that some significant portion of that demographic have been harmed by social media and continue to be. In general, the addictive nature of it combined with the prevalence of false news and heavily biased stories has directly contributed to the confusion and apathy of the American voter base – creating tangible consequences for the entire world. I have also seen similar addiction in older populations – the same demographics which scorned millennials for always being on their phone are often themselves addicted to it. If we’re lucky, it’s just Candy Crush. But I’ve watched my own mother fall into long bouts of depression when her real estate job pushed her to constantly be on social media – posting, interacting, and scrolling to garner engagement instead of attending community events like many in the networking fields used to. I have seen older generations across just about every friend’s family I know fall into silos of right-wing rhetoric which sows the seeds of division into algorithms meant to divide the working class and distract us from the real root of the issues we face in our country. Honestly, whether it’s TicTok, Instagram, Facebook, or YouTube – any platform that encourages the endless scrolling of either doom or comparative life Olympics is responsible for the orchestrated disillusionment of the American voter base and the consequences which came about from that. While I think that would be a harder case to prove based on the evidence they presented in this article, I do think there is evidence that could be found through either existing or new research.
**I would add corporate interests and nation-states as contributors to this manipulation as well**
Hi Alice,
I agree with your point about how serious it is when a social worker abuses their position of power. Clients are often in vulnerable situations, so maintaining professional boundaries is essential for protecting their trust and well-being. I also liked that you connected the reading to your own experiences because it helped explain why this topic stood out to you. Your discussion about separating personal and professional lives also made a lot of sense, especially with how common social media is today. I think having clear boundaries benefits both social workers and clients while still allowing us to provide compassionate care.
I liked how you connected social media to adults and not just younger users. Your personal examples made your points more relatable and showed how these issues can affect people across different age groups. I also agree that misinformation and endless scrolling can have a negative impact on mental health and society. You raised an interesting point about how social media may influence people’s views and interactions with others. I think this is an area that deserves more research, especially as technology continues to become part of everyday life.
Hey Alice!
Your post gave me a lot to think about. The section about your mom’s real-estate job pushing her onto social media, and the depression that came with it, really stuck with me. I didn’t think of the people who use social media in their work, but a lot of people do that. It’s almost a requirement for consumer engagement and advertising. That is exactly the kind of adult harm Haidt’s evidence base doesn’t reach but probably should. A working adult being pushed toward constant checking and scrolling as a job requirement is its own kind of trap, especially when in competition with other people working in the same field. It connects to my own argument in a way I hadn’t seen until I read yours: that the dopaminergic reward system doesn’t just hijack adolescents and people in active addiction, it also catches adults whose livelihoods require them to live inside the platforms. Being off social media and a hermit for so many years, I tend to underestimate the value of using social media in one’s career. Your point about older generations falling into silos is also something I’ve watched happen in families around me, and I appreciate that point. Thank you for your thoughtful post.
Hi Alice,
You have made interesting points in your blog post. Yes, we can separate personal life and work on social media, but I have experienced how you are still an extension of your workplace. I have seen employees getting dismissed from companies for expressing their opinion on social media that has no connection with the company. Now, social media has gotten more complicated with the introduction of AI. Your image can be used with AI to produce pictures and videos to portray incorrect information. How do we protect ourselves on social media from the misuse of AI? Where is the line drawn?
Alice,
All you have to do is put that image in the featured image section on the bottom right side of the post page. Then it will appear automatically at the top of your blog post.
So, I don’t think anyone would disagree with your assessment of sexual misconduct by a social worker. When I was the Deputy Executive Director of the National Association of Social Workers, one of my responsibilities was to staff our Committee on Inquiry. That is the committee that received complaints from clients of sexual misconduct by a clinical social work professional. I will tell you it wasn’t one of my favorite parts of the job, but I learned a great deal.
You are totally correct; these are major misconduct events, and if the allegations were credible, most of them lost their certifications and licenses. But I think what fascinated me most (if one can be fascinated by this behavior) was the way the professional rationalized their behavior. There is something that happens to this professional when they go down a path that allows them to corrupt social work ethics to justify what they have done.
But that supports your point, in many ways. The addiction to power – and then the addiction to relationship – was at the core of this ethical boundary misconduct. But if you think about our technology, as you eloquently state in the second part of this post, it is structured to be divisive, addictive, and manipulative.
While I respect your discussion about social media boundaries, in many cases that distance isn’t realistic. For instance, I could tell all of you that I will only respond to your emails between 9 and 5, but I also know that most of you send me your emails at night when you are finished working or putting your kids to bed. If I respond when I have some time, you have a better chance of getting my response more quickly and reacting in real time. I have some limits – don’t worry – I have a do-not-disturb on my phone – but I am more flexible when I am teaching an online asynchronous class.
For some social workers, social media is part of their job – like your mother and her real estate business. It can be totally overwhelming, but it doesn’t have to be. This is a great example of what we will be discussing in the next module. We can say we won’t have anything to do with the technology – or we can learn how to manage that technology for the benefit of our clients and ourselves. And LinkedIn has become one of the most important social media sites to talk about your professional experience. I think we may be beyond the point where the separation is absolute.
That does not mean that we shouldn’t keep professional and personal INFORMATION separate. I have backed off most sharing on social media for that very reason. I am not in clinical practice, so I can maintain my social media accounts, but I usually just watch what interests me and post a few photos of what I bake. But I don’t trust social media with much of anything, regardless of my professional roles.
There is an organization called The Center for Humane Tech. They talk a lot about how social media was created to encourage our worst impulses, but it didn’t need to be. I recommend them to you. I think you would like what they have to say. https://www.humanetech.com/
You know that I am thrilled to hear any of you talk about macro practice – particularly when you relate it to voting and our democracy. And I wouldn’t argue with you that social media algorithms are partly to blame for our lack of democratic participation. You may find the articles at CHT about Taiwan interesting in that discussion. I also think it is important to remember that many factors have created disillusionment among our population with their government. I look forward to reading your new research on that issue and to watching you wage that fight and make a difference!!
Dr P