Mindful in Michigan 

Technology in all its myriad forms has invaded and altered the very fabric that binds society. In the relatively short span of 50 years digital and cyber technologies have transformed how humanity learns, communicates, transacts, records, analyzes, and interacts on every level. The invention of the internet and the development of social media supercharged the otherwise prosaic everyday tribal activities of socializing, trading, raising the family, and falling in and out of love. Almost every daily activity is now conducted through cyber filters. Much like the introduction of electric lighting, internal combustion engines, telephones, and airplanes, computers and their offspring have altered the very foundations of human interaction. To varying degrees, but in a very real sense, technology has rendered us all "strangers" in our own lives.

Technology in Social Work

Digital, online, and other electronic technology has transformed the nature of social work practice. Contemporary social workers can provide more efficient services to multiple clients by using case management software, online counseling, telephone counseling, video counseling, cybertherapy (avatar therapy), self-guided Web-based interventions, electronic social networks, e-mail, and text messages. It is impossible to exaggerate the positive impact technology has had on the field of social work. However, just like every other "great leap forward", these technological advances come with certain compelling ethical issues related to practitioner competence, client privacy and confidentiality, informed consent, conflicts of interest, boundaries and dual relationships, consultation and client referral, termination and interruption of services, documentation, and research evidence. All these issues are being constantly addressed by the NASW and other guiding agencies but most importantly by the social workers themselves.

One Social Worker Reflects

In response to our recent blogs on the use of AI and other technologies in social work, a child welfare case worker with 27 years of experience sent us the following e-mail. We reprint her unedited e-mail here to avoid diluting the wisdom of her 27 years’ experience through our own clumsy paraphrasing.

Dear GVT,

I am a devoted reader of your weekly blogs. They help me reflect on the profession I have chosen and how I fit in. I have been working here in Michigan in our county's child welfare agency for 27 years almost nonstop because the needs are so great and our resources so limited. Your FAMCare case management software revolutionized my work and saved my life when it was adopted by our agency. Of course, since the introduction of case management software I have also been learning to use cell phones, the internet, social media, Zoom and other interactive websites to reach out to remote clients in need and stay in close contact even when geography, time, and finances limit access to many of the neediest. In other words, I am a careful proponent of the use of technology in my work.

However, there is one negative I am experiencing that I would like to share with you and your readers. The more I use technology to interact with my clients the more impersonal the work becomes. The less "face to face" interaction I have with them, and the more technically efficient and remote client interaction becomes, the more I find myself seeing each case as a sort of "chore" that I need to check off my bulging list. Somehow, the suffering of real people begins to fade, and I feel a little less compassion. For example, I have found myself rushing to complete a Zoom meeting with a client who just wants someone to share their suffering with because I have another efficient Zoom meeting scheduled in ten minutes. I have found myself thinking, "if I can just stay on schedule, I'll be able to knock off 15 clients in one day." See what I mean?

I realize that face-to-face encounters are charged with an energy that itself is a form of communication. Every time you send a client an e-mail rather than meeting them face-to-face you forego that energy exchange. When technology is inserted between you and your client somehow all the nonverbal communication is lost. In my own case I've noticed that compassion erodes unnoticed a little bit at a time, and if I don't catch it my work will end up devoid of the empathy and compassion that has always fueled it. Like me, I suspect, very few case workers see this danger and are, therefore, swept along in an impersonal race to an imaginary finish line before they realize what is happening. Take notice or you may gradually run out of fuel.

Sincerely,

Mindful in Michigan