Expert Recommendations:

Social Media and Mental Health in Children and Adolescents

Expert Recommendations: Social Media and Mental Health in Children and Adolescents

By Hayley Fournier, PhD; Alex Foxwell, PhD; & Betsy Kennard, PsyD, ABPP
Founders of Screenwell

Five Helpful Resources for Parents and Providers and Tips for Clinicians

Drs. Fournier, Foxwell, and Kennard have over 50 years of combined research and clinical experience helping teens and families use evidence-based strategies to overcome a number of mental health struggles, from daily stressors to anxiety and depression. Most recently, they have developed an expert-driven, online platform called Screenwell that will provide users with weekly tips and interactive tools to help them better understand their needs when it comes to screen use and achieve a more intentional and healthy relationship with technology. To learn more about Screenwell and get updates about the platform, please visit www.screenwell.org.

Resources for Providers and Parents: 

1. Digital Wellness Lab by Boston Children’s (online resource)
2. Common Sense Media (online resource)
3. Tech Without Stress by Jaqueline Nesi and Emily Weinstein (online resource)
4. Behind Their Screens by Emily Weinstein and Carrie James (book)
5. What the Science Says and by Mitch Prinstein (videos) and
6. The Handbook of Adolescent Digital Media Use and Mental Health by Jacqueline Nesi, Eva Telzer and Mitch Prinstien (online resource)

Tips for Clinicians:

1. Engage parents and teens in self-assessment of screen use.
   • Frequency of use
     • Urge to reach for device when not in use
     • Frequency and time spent on apps/device —consider the message to your family and friends
   • Is use problematic- Assessing Problematic Use (APU) screening tool (Domoff, et al. 2023)
     • Assess for nighttime device use. Is it contributing sleep disturbance?
2. Teach teens Social Media Literacy.
   • Teach design tricks (endless scroll, algorithms, etc.)
   • Identify harmful content such as hate speech
   • Notice with the teen helpful content and discuss how this impacts their mood
   • Parents can demonstrate critical thinking when sitting together and viewing social media sites with their teen
3. Work with parents on effective communication strategies with their children about social media use.
   • Validate feelings regarding need to use social media and their reaction to rules for social media use
   • Use open ended questions
     e.g., “How were you impacted by something you saw online today? How did you handle it when…? What worked and what might you have done differently?”
   • Role model an example of talking about harmful content and how you managed it
     e.g., “I have noticed that I was following someone on Instagram that had disturbing content…I decided to unfollow. “
   • Discuss teen/family values and how they align or do not align with the family screen usage.
   • Make it a routine to check in often. Using a rating, or emotional thermometer is a helpful check in tool.
     e.g., “On a scale of 1 to 10 with 10=worst, how difficult was today?” Or “On a scale of 1 to 10, how much stress did you experience related to your online/screen use…”