HEADS⁴: Social Media Screening in Adolescent Primary Care

Social media intertwines itself with the adolescent experience in our country. Friendships, family ties, romantic relationships, academic pursuits, and even dining all have an inseparable electronic component for this generation. Social media is defined as electronic communication, especially applications and Web sites, through which users create and share information, ideas, and personal messages in an online community.¹ The most prominent platforms for this activity are Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Snapchat. Research regarding the merge of social media and clinical practice has grown in the last decade, and we’ve now learned that there are clear correlations between patients’ mental health and social media usage. Aberrant and/or excessive social media usage may contribute to the development of mental health disturbance in at-risk teenagers, such as feelings of isolation, depressive symptoms, and anxiety.^2,3 In addition, many mentally ill teenagers express their daily thoughts and stressors via social networking platforms. Thus, gathering information on teenagers’ social media activities may provide a more complete picture of their psychosocial risk profile.

Address correspondence to Amy L. McGuire, JD, PhD, School of Medicine, Baylor College of Medicine, 1 Baylor Plaza, Suite 310D, Houston, TX 77401. E-mail: amcguire{at}bcm.edu