youth health system

A truly effective youth health system is by no means a single-point product such as "anti-addiction management and control tools" or "student health ledger software" that are common on the market, but a dynamic support network that takes the three-dimensional health standards of "physiological-psychological-social adaptation" proposed by the WHO as the core and links families, schools, medical institutions, and Internet platforms. Currently, less than 15% of related products that have been launched in China can cover this core logic, and the rest are mostly "pseudo-systems" with one-sided functions.

Last month, I went to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention in an eastern district to conduct research on youth health projects. I met Teacher Li, the teacher of the third grade of junior high school in the district. She had three "Youth Health Systems" installed on her mobile phone that were required by different departments: one was a physical examination ledger required by the Education Bureau to record vision and weight, and she spent 2 hours a week filling out the form.； One is the cultural and tourism content anti-addiction system required by the Bureau of Culture and Tourism, which can be used by students every time they enter the library by swiping their faces. ； There is also a psychological assessment system purchased by the school itself, and the questionnaire is filled out once a semester. But last month, there was a girl in her class who continued to watch short videos at 3 a.m. for a week. She was in a bad state and was eventually diagnosed with mild depression. None of the three systems issued any warning.

Nowadays, practitioners in this field are basically divided into two groups, and they often get into fights when they get together. A group of technical people who came from Internet companies believe that algorithms can solve 80% of problems, such as content filtering, duration control, and abnormal behavior identification. The evidence they provide is also solid: after leading game companies upgraded their anti-addiction systems in 2023, the average gaming time of domestic minors dropped by 75%, and the number of complaints about game recharges involving minors dropped by 60%. But another group of practitioners in education and child psychology simply don’t recognize this logic. The 2024 survey data from the Institute of Child Psychology of Beijing Normal University is here: 62% of minors can find at least 3 ways to bypass purely technical controls, including buying adult ID numbers, logging in with elders’ accounts, and even There are even children who lie and conflict with their parents in order to circumvent control, which in turn intensifies parent-child conflicts. After a province launched a purely algorithm-driven youth Internet control system last year, the number of parent-child conflict-related consultations received by the local 12355 youth psychological hotline increased by 38% month-on-month, which is the most realistic slap in the face.

I participated in the pilot project of the adolescent health system in a prefecture-level city in central China two years ago. At that time, we did not dare to pile up the algorithm at the beginning. We first spent three months honing the rules for data integration, combining the children's health care data from the community hospital, the school's daily attendance and physical test data, and the abnormal behavior warning data from the Internet platform within the jurisdiction (such as 2 consecutive hours). Browsing content related to depression and self-mutilation at any time or more, or logging in continuously from 12 to 6 o'clock in the middle of the night), and the privacy calculation rule of "data available but not visible" is used throughout the process. No one can call up a child's complete private data, and the system will only push an early warning prompt to the corresponding responsible person when the risk threshold is matched. At that time, after three months of piloting, several children who almost had problems were caught: There was a boy in the first grade of junior high school with a history of asthma. The school's physical examination system recorded that he ran 800 meters for half a month and was 2 minutes slower than the passing line. The platform captured him searching for "Can asthma be eliminated" for three consecutive days? "Take physical education class", the system directly sent an early warning to the class teacher and his parents. Later, I found out that his inhalant had been used up for almost a month. His parents were working outside and did not bother to buy it. He was afraid that his classmates would laugh at him if he said it.

Of course, until now, the logic of building this system is still controversial, especially in the area of ​​data privacy. Many parents and people from public welfare organizations have expressed opinions, saying that even if privacy protection is technically implemented, putting children's health data and online behavior together is a risk in itself. If it is leaked, it will harm the children. Some people also think that the current system warning threshold is too strict. Children occasionally search for "doesn't want to go to school" and then push warnings to parents. Instead, parents are overly nervous and put extra pressure on their children. We are also making adjustments now. For example, we have divided the levels of early warnings into more detailed levels. Only abnormal behaviors for many consecutive days will be issued. Different levels of early warnings will be issued to different people. Mild abnormalities will only be issued to school psychology teachers and parents will not be informed directly to avoid unnecessary anxiety.

To be honest, I have come across many places that fall into the trap of spending hundreds of thousands of dollars to buy a standardized youth health system that claims to have "full function coverage". In the end, it only uses the function of morning and afternoon check-in and check-in. The other functions are too troublesome for teachers and do not want to be used by parents. They are completely useless. In fact, how can there be any system that is universally applicable? For example, in a county where there are many left-behind children, it is useless to push the early warning only to parents working outside. You have to put the village party secretary and village primary school teachers on the early warning list. ； For example, in places where ethnic minorities live together, systematic psychological assessment scales must be adjusted locally, otherwise the test results will not be accurate at all.

In the final analysis, the youth health system has never been an electronic curse placed on children. It is a safety net with a bottom. The mesh should not be too dense, so that the children cannot breathe, but it should not be too tight, so that the risks that should be covered are leaked. We are still slowly figuring out the most suitable tightness. After all, it is these children who are the most alive and precious that we have to protect, right?