Editorial: Social media use in children and adolescents – on the good or the bad side of the force?
Michael Kaess
Abstract
Children and adolescents spend increasingly large parts of their social life connecting with each other via social networks sites. While this is clearly an achievement and may have helped many of them during difficult COVID‐19 lock downs, there is an ongoing political and scientific debate around the potential harm that (excessive) social media use may pose on young individuals. This editorial highlights a systematic review that was published on the topic of social media use and child and adolescent mental health, and sets the results of this review into a current research and public health perspective.
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Michael Kaess is Professor of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Psychotherapy at the University of Bern as well as the Director of the University Hospital of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Psychotherapy Bern in Switzerland. In addition, Michael Kaess is heading a research section at the Center for Psychosocial Medicine at the University Heidelberg, Germany. Michael Kaess is an internationally renowned researcher in the field of adolescent risk-taking and self-harm behavior as well as early detection and intervention of potentially underlying mental disorders such as borderline personality disorders and affective disorders. Michael Kaess has also a strong interest in the role of the internet in youth mental health. Thus, he has been involved in various epidemiological, clinical and experimental studies in the field of excessive and pathological internet use and cyberbullying, but his research is also targeting the potential of the Internet as a setting for prevention and intervention (E-Mental Health).
