ental health among Britain?s youth is shockingly concerning. Suicide is the leading cause of death in men under the age of 35 in the UK, while it is estimated that 9.6% of young people aged 5-16 have a clinically recognised mental health condition.
Anything that helps to better this situation is great, and particularly as it is crucial to catch mental ill health early on. Struggling with a serious mental health condition as a young person can seriously impact a person?s future ? I speak from experience.
Perhaps if Samaritans Radar had been around when I was 16, I wouldn?t have spent the next two years in a hellish fug of depression.
Released this week, Samaritans Radar is a web app which monitors Twitteraccounts for tweets indicative of possible depression or suicidal thoughts. Launched by the suicide prevention charity the Samaritans, the app scans tweets for specific keywords and phrases including: ?tired of being alone?, ?hate myself?, ?depressed?, ?help me? and ?need someone to talk to.?
A concerned friend or family member can sign up to Samaritans Radar, which will then monitor the tweets of a person they are worried about, and alert them by email if the content of tweets suggests that they are vulnerable.
Are you tracking me?
But the app, which utilises Twitter?s API and was developed by digital agency Jam, has met with resistance over privacy concerns, with many pointing out that the Samaritans are surveilling people?s tweets without their permission.
Some have also raised concerns that the app breaches the Data Protection Act 1998 (DPA), as Jon Baines explains on his information rights blog.
The Samaritans preempted this objection in its own FAQ which states that ?All the data used in the app is public, so user privacy is not an issue?, but have since released a statement defending the app, addressing concerns and clarifying how it works.
However, despite legitimate privacy arguments and other ways in which the app falls short (discussed below), Samaritans Radar is a good thing.
The app?s main target audience is 18 to 35-year-olds, or the so-called ?millennial? generation. This demographic ? annoyingly known as ?digital natives? ? live their lives on social media, and this often includes updates on mood and emotional state.
Facebook even prompts status updates with ?What?s on your mind?? as the placeholder text in the input box, and asks users how they are feeling.
Sources: Copsincyberspace, The Guardian, SamaritansRadar