A new report examining nearly 28 million social media posts tied to 114 schools finds higher rates of depression and stress following active shooter drills.

Active shooter drills became one of the most common school safety measures implemented nationwide in recent years, despite widespread fears that the procedures heighten anxiety, and evidence that school shooters, like the one in Parkland, Florida, use knowledge of the drills to their advantage. Teachers unions in February called for schools to not conduct active shooter drills with students. Now, new research adds data to those concerns.

A report released Thursday, obtained in advance by NBC News, found active shooter drills in schools correlated with a 42 percent increase in anxiety and stress and a 39 percent increase in depression among those in the school community, including students, teachers and parents, based on their social media posts.

  • Raya [she/her]
    ·
    4 years ago

    I used to volunteer at a summer camp for trans kids (cause like, holy shit imagine trying to go to a summer camp surrounded by cis kids). The camp is, quite literally, in a secret location - for safety purposes. We couldn't even let them keep their phones or cameras (since social media posts might out someone who was in the closet back home, among other concerns).

    After the aurora shooting the folks in charge ultimately decided on having safety drills - specifically in the case of someone from outside attempting to enter and do harm - mostly involving various locations hidden in the woods. It was certainly done with good intentions but like, god, it was not a good time. We were told to pretend it was a fire drill but like, obviously none of the kids older than like 10 bought that story.

    I'm an adult and it fucked me up. As far as I'm aware the camp never did the drills again after that one year. You'd have to be completely oblivious to try and do that kind of thing again after actually seeing the results. Its hard to want to want to repeat it after seeing the faces of the kids forcibly imagining the idea of someone trying to murder them for being trans, you know?

    Anyways hellworld just keeps rolling on I guess, I wonder if they'll actually manage to stop the drills from happening. Isn't there like, literally a whole new chud industry built around providing "realistic" drills in schools?