7.4 the Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Electronics and Electronic Media Usage for Children and Adolescents with Psychiatric Disorders

This study compares and analyzes the impact of the use of electronics and electronic media in acute child and adolescent psychiatric patients during the COVID-19 pandemic, specifically comparing groups of differing diagnoses such as patients with and without ASD. This study used data collected as part of a retrospective chart review of patients treated in psychiatric hospital programs at an academic medical center. Patients complete scales that included self-reports and/or parent reports of daily activities such as electronic and social media usage. A total of 463 subjects were studied across inpatient, partial, and outpatient programs. Data were collected from early in the COVID-19 pandemic (April 2020) to February 2023. Both descriptive and statistical data are presented. Two-tailed t tests were used to compare groups. Subjects with ASD reported spending almost an hour less time daily using electronic media than other subjects, with 5.15 electronic media hours spent on average for patients without ASD and 4.28 electronic media hours spent on average for patients with ASD (p = .07). Time specifically playing video games, interacting on games with peers, and watching YouTube was greater for subjects with ASD but these differences were not significant. Patients with ASD reported almost 1 hour a day less time on electronic media than their peers but a comparable or higher use of games and YouTube. These differences may be due to less social media use in patients with ASD. Furthermore, these findings led to an interest to further investigate the impact of the pandemic on the usage of TikTok and other new social media platforms and the consequent effects on the mental health of child and adolescent psychiatric patients.