As a result of increased screen use by children at school, we’ve also seen a rapid uptick in the use of “surveillance” tools in educational settings– which can range from things like facial recognition scanners to monitoring software.

Here are two examples:

• GoGuardian is being rolled out in school districts around the country. On their website, GoGuardian claims to be the panacea we all need for the “problems” education is facing– indeed they can “help you maximize the potential of your 1:1 tech program” by providing “unify filtering, classroom engagement, and mental health tools into a single suite.” If that sounds way too good to be true– that’s because it is. (The irony of using technology to “solve” mental health problems should shock us all.)  

• Bark, a popular parental surveillance tool, also offers to monitor “school-issued accounts.” However, as a dear colleague points out, “Without the internet, Bark would be out of business.” Like many other technology companies, Bark takes money from Kayne Anderson, a venture capital firm with other tech and data-driven investments in their portfolio. A brief skim of Bark’s privacy policies reveals how much data they collect and share about your child– all in the name of protecting your child. 

Unfortunately, these solutions create more problems than they solve.

Let’s back up for a moment: What problems are EdTech surveillance tools trying to solve?

Given that so many school children now use technology at and for school, here are some of the main reasons that arise for why EdTech surveillance tools are being implemented:

1. Student Distraction 

2. Student Safety

3. Proving the Efficacy of EdTech

Let’s unpack these a little.

1. Student Distraction. It’s no secret that screen-based technology is highly distracting– for all of us, not just children! But when it comes to children, we are confronted with underdeveloped brains that lack the ability to mitigate distractions. Couple that with any sort of neurodiversity (such as ADHD) and you’ve got a recipe for distraction. One of my teacher activist buddies says that “trying to keep kids focused on an iPad or computer screen for ‘learning’ is akin to holding an AA meeting in a bar.”

2. Student Safety. Fundamentally, no one is opposed to making things “safer” for children. But when the company that created the danger in the first place is in charge of the safety plan, we should question their motives. Students don’t get pop-up porn ads by reading physical textbooks or writing with pencil on a piece of paper. But they do run the risk of encountering content that is far from safe or appropriate for children when they use internet-connected devices in schools. Schools, ostensibly, have firewalls and can block certain apps as a way to reduce risk, but the reality is that no control is 100% effective. So they are forced to turn to more technology as a way to mitigate the risks caused by the initial technologies. As my friends at EverySchool.org would say, this is “using tech to solve a problem tech created.” It’s like Phillip Morris creating a filter for a cigarette to reassure us smoking is safe.

3. Proving the Efficacy of EdTech. Perhaps this is less of a “problem” EdTech companies are trying to solve and more of a reason for why they exist in the first place. EdTech is nascent, expensive, unregulated, and deeply problematic. So they have to provide “evidence” that their role in education is legitimate, and what better way to do that than by showing schools that they can help even more to make these tools safe and effective for children? (Spoiler: that’s all smoke and mirrors. If they truly wanted to make tools safe and effective, they’d have to change their extremely lucrative business model, and they do not intend to do that any time soon.)

But here’s the problem. All of these “problems” are generated by the presence of EdTech tools in the first place. And when we rely on surveillance tools to “solve” these problems, we are creating a new set of problems that can have far-reaching consequences.

In my opinion, there are at least three key ways in which the use of EdTech surveillance tools cause harm.

First, surveillance–of any kind– erodes trust. From Big Government “snooping” on citizens to countries where adult social media platforms are strictly monitored to parents monitoring their child’s movements on GPS-based apps, we are living in a world where people’s backgrounds, images, and mistakes are just a Google search away. That can be convenient when screening a potential date or new hire, but when it comes to our minor children, there are some serious risks to consider. 

Parents of young children might see a tool like a smartwatch or tracking device as a convenient way to “keep tabs” on them. I’ve written a lot about the potential drawbacks of this. And it’s a national phenomenon– Pew Research found that the #3 Parental Fear in America is “kidnapping” even though the risk is statistically nil. Parents are struggling, for sure. But surveilling our children actually increases our own anxiety and fear and decreases our confidence in our child’s ability to do things. Parents now are not only surveilling their children (some as old as college) about their whereabouts, but using it to track them during the school day; monitoring their bus routes; confirming if they are where they say they are; checking on their grades and test scores in real time. 

Which leads me to a vital second harm of EdTech surveillance: the decrease of independence and critical skill-building for children. Imagine your own middle or high school days. How often did your parents know about your missing homework assignments or test scores? Did you call them from the middle of English class to tell them about a bad grade? The idea seems preposterous– yet that’s happening all over. It’s a complex situation, for sure– we already know youth mental health has suffered, the pandemic caused a lot of delay in social skill building, and schools are stretched so thin in so many ways. But this combination of stressors has led to an increase in student dependence on parents during the school day in a way that disrupts healthy school experiences. Children– of all ages– need time away from their parents, to practice distress tolerance, to struggle through friendship conflicts, and to learn to advocate for themselves. When parents are available 24/7, a child is not incentivized to grow or change. And that harms the child.

Finally, surveillance of student devices and online work in school is a violation of student privacy. When students are aware they are being monitored by their parents, teachers, or administrators, they may be less likely to express their personal opinions, struggle with complicated thoughts (a key part of development!), or share their feelings. Schools are an instrument of the state– they are governmental institutions, and giving governmental bodies access into a developing child’s private thoughts and feelings presents significant risks. Additionally, surveillance of student work sometimes extends beyond the school day into the home, as children take home school-issued devices to do homework. As attorney Julie Liddell of The EdTech Law Center writes on her website: 

“Some school districts have allowed their employees unfettered access to student devices, even allowing officials to remotely access student webcams and microphones to spy on students in their own homes. One study revealed that nearly 90% of EdTech products surveil or are able to surveil children outside school hours and “deep into their private lives.” Student activity monitoring software may be misused for disciplinary purposes, with nearly half of schools using these tools to identify violations of discipline policies, including those that occur away from school.” 

It is understandable why school districts are turning to tools like GoGuardian as a solution to keep students on task, engaged, and “safe” while they use their digital tools. How is a teacher supposed to know what all 35 of her 7th grade students are doing on their individual devices all at once? Wouldn’t it be great to have a tool where the teacher could just watch all her students’ screens in real time? Aside from the fact that this forces teachers to spend more time behind a screen (instead of actually engaging with students, which we know does work to improve student outcomes), GoGuardian is fraught with issues, expensive, and highlighted in this deeply disturbing report by the ACLU called “Digital Dystopia.” 

Districts exploring GoGuardian as an option might want to take a closer look at what Montgomery County Schools just did earlier this year– voted to eliminate GoGuardian from their school budget. Not only was the district spending $230,000 a year for the service, they found that only about 40% of teachers were actually using it. (Side note: if I were still a classroom teacher, there is no way I would use it.)

As with most things related to technology and children, schools are asking the wrong questions about how to solve a problem that was created by the increase of EdTech tools and platforms in the first place. So what are the solutions? Here are mine, and you’ll see immediately a pattern:

• The solution to too much tech is not more tech, it’s more relationships. 

• The solution to the youth mental health crisis is not more surveillance, it’s more relationships.

• The solution to keeping kids safe online is not to use Creepy Big Brother tools, it’s to minimize their exposure in the first place, and build healthy relationships with safe and trusted adults.

If you sensed the key to all these solutions is rooted in “relationships”-- you’re right. Human relationships, to be clear, and built on skills like communication, critical thinking, and empathy. 

The problem with surveillance tools in EdTech is not the tools themselves (though they are awful); the problem starts with the existence of EdTech and 1:1 platforms in the first place.

We don’t need surveillance tech if students don’t have laptops.

We won’t need surveillance tech if children play with blocks and manipulatives to do math, not a digital curriculum.

We don’t need surveillance tech if teenagers have strong relationships with adults whose job it is to protect them and nurture their emotional, mental, and intellectual growth. 

The real answers to the problems of distraction and safety on EdTech tools and platforms is actually quite simple, should a school leader be courageous enough to do it:

1. Reduce the amount of EdTech tools used by students and return to library computers, computer labs, and/or classroom sets of technology. 

2. Eliminate 1:1 programs for all K-5 students, at a minimum, and only introduce it in older grades when other critical skills are in place (see: typing, writing, communicating, editing, researching, etc.)

3. Focus on relationships. Stop throwing more tech to solve a problem that tech created and which most teachers hate anyway. Give teachers time, resources, and autonomy to build relationships with their students, as connection is the antidote to addiction and a preventative approach that works.

Ready to push for change in your school? Be sure to check out my UnPlug EdTech Toolkit– now with sample letters of what you can say to school administrators and teachers about your intentions and reasons!