Welcome to the Social Media and Youth Mental Health Q&A Portal! Here you can read our featured Q&A Portal questions, view available resources to help your patients build healthier digital habits and browse our library of previously submitted questions and responses to learn more about other topics.
Not finding what you're looking for? Feel free to submit your own question to our Center of Excellence team. Your question will receive an evidence-based response from our expert team and be added to our Q&A Portal library.
Read our featured Q&A Portal questions and responses
Question: What advice do you have for parents when they say that their child is watching Miss Rachel when the child is under 2? Do we recommend it’s okay because it’s educational?
Answer: Ms. Rachel is a popular YouTube influencer who makes videos for infants and young children. She has masters degrees in early childhood development and music education and often guides youth through sing-along activities with a focus on developing stronger speech, language, and social emotional skills. Read the rest of this answer here.
Social Media & Youth Mental Health Q&A Portal
|October 15, 2024
Question: The issues surrounding social media usage is often referred to as an "addiction." Is social media addiction clinically similar to how we understand addiction to substances like drugs and alcohol?
Answer: Unlike drugs or alcohol, which have no health benefits and are generally harmful, technology itself is not inherently bad or good. While “addiction” terminology has been a common frame for how we talk about the impacts of social media, when it comes to clinical similarities to substances like drugs and alcohol, the short answer is, it’s pretty different. Read the rest of this answer here.
Social Media & Youth Mental Health Q&A Portal
|October 15, 2024
Question: What do we know about the role of social media challenges and injuries in children? Do we have any evidence-based ways to address these potentially life-threatening social media challenges?
Answer: Social media challenges can be very creative – from the “mannequin” challenge, where participants stay as still as possible during the video clip, to the Try Not to Laugh challenge, where players try their best not to laugh while watching funny videos. Some are used to support community efforts. Read the rest of this answer here.
Social Media & Youth Mental Health Q&A Portal
|October 15, 2024
Many states, school districts, and individual schools will be implementing new phone policies in the coming year, and pediatric clinicians may be asked to contribute to discussions. Here, the AAP Center of Excellence on Social Media and Youth Mental Health offers a few tips based on our review of the research and what we have heard from teachers and students.
Pediatricians and providers often need quick, simple ways to discuss digital media with families. To help, we developed The 5 Cs of Media Use. The 5 Cs are designed to meet kids, teens and parents where they are, build insight and communication skills, and motivate for healthy behavior change.
Browse our library of all previously submitted questions here. Check back often as we add new questions regularly.
Don't see what you are looking for? Submit your own question below. Your answer will then be added to the Q&A Portal library to help others with similar questions.
Use these resources to help develop healthy digital habits
Help the families in your care build healthy digital habits with this handout that includes research-based tips that can make a big difference. Also available in Spanish.
Media is everywhere and managing it all can be tough. The AAP Family Media Plan is a great resource you can share with the families in your practice to help them set media priorities that matter most to them.
Funding for the Center of Excellence was made possible by Grant No. SM087180 from SAMHSA of the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). The contents are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent the official views of, nor an endorsement by, SAMHSA/HHS or the US Government.
02/22/2024
American Academy of Pediatrics
