"MY KID’S ALWAYS ONLINE, BUT WHAT CAN I DO ABOUT IT?" HELPING FAMILIES MANAGE MEDIA

Abstract

This session aims to comprehensively answer the most asked question in recent screen media presentations: How can providers best partner with parents to sustain viable, healthy screen media rules in the home, supervise children’s online experiences and maintain safety and healthy habits while minimizing family conflict, and maintain an open family dialogue about the mental health dynamics of screen habits and experiences? The considerable clinical experience of our presenters, specialists in the treatment of problematic media habits, is combined with an ongoing review of available literature on interventions targeting media habits in youth to teach informed, actionable recommendations for practitioners to enable families to supervise and moderate screen media habits and prevent harmful experiences. Presenters will utilize audience polling to assess current-state practices and incorporate specific patient cases to illustrate vital concepts in patient care. Practitioners largely understand that excessive screen habits and problematic online exposures frequently impact the mental health of our patients, but they struggle to effectively advise families on how best to address them. Guiding our patients and their parents to maintain a dialogue about screen media experiences, to incorporate and maintain structure in the home around screen media engagement, and to teach youth to make safe media choices and maintain healthy habits can yield great benefit to mental health outcomes. Effective interventions must consider the particular circumstances and capabilities of each family, including family dynamics and parental capacity to maintain structure and supervise youth. Parental monitoring controls and software may be helpful adjunctive tools. Cases of particularly problematic or unsafe screen habits necessitate special techniques that will be addressed. Facilitating healthy and safe screen media habits in the home is a challenging but vital and practical function of contemporary child and adolescent psychiatrists.