Cracking the Algorithm: How to Ask the Right Questions about Social Media During the Interview

Area of Science:

• Adolescent Psychology
• Digital Mental Health
• Clinical Assessment Tools

Background:

• Ubiquitous social media (SM) use among adolescents raises concerns regarding mental health impacts.
• Existing research indicates a complex relationship between excessive SM use and negative mental health outcomes.
• Current assessment methods often lack platform-agnostic approaches, limiting generalizability.

Purpose of the Study:

• To propose a novel function-based framework and algorithm for evaluating adolescent social media use.
• To provide clinicians with a tool to assess SM engagement independent of specific platform knowledge.
• To identify risk and resilience factors associated with adolescent SM use patterns.

Main Methods:

• Development of a function-based framework to analyze SM engagement patterns.
• Creation of an algorithm to aid clinicians in evaluating SM use.
• Focus on eliciting patterns of engagement and social interactions rather than platform specifics.

Main Results:

• The proposed framework enables a nuanced evaluation of adolescent social media use.
• It facilitates the identification of individual risk and resilience factors related to SM engagement.
• The approach is independent of specific social media platform knowledge.

Conclusions:

• The function-based framework offers a valuable tool for clinicians assessing adolescent mental health in the context of SM use.
• This approach can inform targeted screening, assessment, and intervention strategies for adolescents.
• It addresses the complexity of SM's impact by focusing on the functions of use.