Part 1
After reading Reamer’s article entitled Social Work Boundary Issues in the Digital Age: Reflections of an Ethics Expert, the one ethical tension that makes me the most uncomfortable is the social worker who searched the sixteen-year-old client’s social media page due to concerns about a suicidal post. The social worker then exchanged private messages with the client for two hours late at night. As someone who will be a school social worker starting this August, I can see how someone might find themselves in this predicament. If I were concerned about one of my future students committing suicide, my first instinct would be to do whatever I could to make sure they were safe. The emotional pull of this ethical dilemma is what makes it so difficult for me. During my school social work internships, I encountered students who struggled with things like depression and suicidal ideation. I never communicated with students on social media, but I often wondered what would happen once they went home. Especially if a student had shared something concerning or I had to do a suicidal ideation risk assessment. Therefore, I totally understand why the social worker in Reamer’s example decided to reach out to the student through social media.
However, I do agree with Reamer that crossing that digital boundary in this situation creates a plethora of ethical issues. This messaging a minor late at night for hours is absolutely inappropriate, in my opinion, and can blur the professional relationship between the client and the social worker, especially when your client is a minor. However, I believe it would also be unethical to know the information about the client’s suicidal ideations and do nothing. Instead of private messaging the client, I would have followed proper agency procedures, which a lot of times is to call a crisis hotline, but if that wasn’t available due to the time of day, I would have either waited till the morning or, if i felt like the situation needed immediate attention, I would have at least tried to get in contact with the parent or guardian of the child. I think my current ethical position on this explained to a client would be something along the lines of making sure they know that their safety is of utmost importance to me however i am not available past work hours, so if a client is in this situation i would give them a list of immediate resources that can help them if they get into a predicament like that again.
Part 2
As someone who is pursuing a career in school social work, Haidt and Rausch’s argument in the case against social media article aligns greatly with the things that i have observed while working with students. The population focused on in the article is adolescents, which is the same group that I will be serving; therefore, their evidence is directly applicable to my future work. I really thought it was compelling how they used research on what adolescents thought about their own experiences with social media. Overall all of the research avenues pointed to the same conclusion: that the overuse of social media negatively impacts adolescents’ mental health. Learning that these platforms are specifically designed for adolescents to stay on them for long periods of time shows how intentional and non-accidental these outcomes are. Learning about this evidence is definitely going to impact how I serve students and families. Instead of viewing things like anxiety and depression singularly, I have a new lens to look through. Now I can assess a student by their social media use, potential cyberbullying, amount of in-person interaction, etc. Also Family conversations would have an added dimension as well. I could suggest to families about the findings of technology and adolescent well being and potential boundaries to consider for their family while being able to back it up with statistics. One area I think wasn’t talked about was the adolescents that might be in marginalized groups or socially isolated. Often times these adolescents will find their community online, where they feel accepted for who they are. What are those children supposed to do? I don’t necessarily agree with no online activity being the best idea. This is where the discretion of families come in. The biggest takeaway for me from this article is that technology should not be ignored during assessment because as a gen z I know the significant role technology plays in our well-being and day-to-day lives.
I appreciate your point you made about marginalized adolescents finding community online. It is so important for us as social workers to acknowledge the positives of technology before condemning it. This complicates the things Haidt discussed even more. While excessive technology use can lead to anxiety and isolation, it also can be somewhere where they find connection and acceptance. Maybe instead of us making a judgement about technology and its uses, we should as social workers be helping our client evaluate their own relationship with it and whether it is adding or reducing their ability to connect with others and to build relationships.