Examining the Impact of New Technologies on School Counseling
Soft skill tests, neurophysiological evaluations and college planners are all tools that are usually used by school counselor to assess students’ needs and provide them with proper guidance. And because school counselors have many goals to achieve in their profession, such as fostering social, career and personal development in their young students, they need every tool at their disposal to meet their objectives. 
But in a world where testing seems to be so important, you would expect educators and school counselors to take full advantage of all the advantages technology has to offer. However, many school educators seem to be averse to technology and prefer to use traditional methods in their line of work.
School Counselors Are Intimidated by New Technology
According to many industry insiders, some school counselors make the conscious decision not to use technology in their professional lives, even though numerous counseling methods and much digital guidance is provided to counselors. The Wake Forest University school counselor program for instance has modules dedicated solely to the use of new technologies by counselors.
According to Russell Sabella, a counseling professor at Florida Gulf Coast University, many counselors seem to be intimidated by new technologies and are afraid that they might erode the human contact they have with their students.
Some Counselors are Embracing New Trends
However, not all counselors shun new technologies. Many counselors choose to use tools like Twitter, Pinterest, Facebook and other social media platforms to reach their students more efficiently. The current generation of students is more interconnected than ever, yet they tend to value a face-to-face human connection because of its scarcity. Counselors need to take advantage of new opportunities to connect with their students and use them to foster human interaction, not hinder it.
Counselors Need More Support from Schools
Schools also play a part in the integration of new technologies by college counselors. While many counselors might be tempted to use technology, they do not get the support necessary from their faculties to implement these technological tools efficiently. According to many insiders, leadership in the counseling field is severely lacking and misinformation on new technologies keeps being perpetuated, which deters counselors from using them.
Until leaders in the field decide to address the question and actually evaluate the technological tools that might help counselors in their work instead of bashing them, there will be no significant changes in how these tools are implemented. Counselors who do not take the time to sit down and learn how to use tools such as Twitter and Pinterest to reach students are doing them a huge disservice and will eventually lose all ability to connect to them efficiently.
Teachers, school counselors and other school personnel should embrace technology instead of being afraid by it. More pressure has to be put on both counselors and educational institutions to facilitate the use of technology in their practice. Technology should be used as a tool to connect students and counselors more efficiently. Social media platforms will eventually play a major role in pretty much every aspect of education, and counselors who fail to stay with the times will eventually be left behind.
