Titrating Social Media Use During Adolescent Inpatient Psychiatric Hospitalization

Approximately 89% of adolescents have access to a smartphone, with 70% checking social media (eg, Snapchat, Instagram) multiple times per day.1 Psychiatric hospitalizations for adolescents commonly involve suicidal crises with underlying interpersonal stressors, often inextricably embedded in the digital milieu. Upon psychiatric hospitalization, adolescents typically leave their smartphones with caregivers or in a locked area of the unit and enter into a social media “deprivation” period (inclusive of all digital social communication, such as texting).

Source: Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry - June 28, 2020 Category: Psychiatry Authors: Taylor A. Burke, Jacqueline Nesi, Sarah E. Domoff, Magdalena Romanowicz, Paul E. Croarkin Tags: Letter to the Editor Source Type: research