BOSTON CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL TREATMENT CENTER

FOR PROBLEMATIC INTERACTIVE MEDIA USE

CLINIC FOR INTERACTIVE
MEDIA AND INTERNET DISORDERS

FOUNDED BY:

The Center on Media and Child Health

Boston Children’s Hospital

Academic Research Centers

Harvard Medical School
Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health

AFFLILIATED WITH:

Children are hooked on screens— starting ever younger, engaging more intensely, using media for more of their waking hours. Many are fatigued, anxious, distracted, and withdrawn.

Research shows that tweens are now interacting with screens every day for an average of 6 hours, teens for 9 hours – and 1/3 of that time they are using 2 or more screens simultaneously, resulting in nearly 12 hours of screen media exposure!

Half of today’s teens believe they are “addicted” to their smartphones.

And some appear to be – online all night with gaming, social media, porn or videos, sleeping through school, avoiding family, friends, and previously enjoyed activities, sullen, irritable, even suicidal when offline. Boston Children’s Hospital addresses their need for help.

For more than 15 years, the Center on Media and Child Health (CMCH) at Boston Children’s Hospital (BCH) and Harvard Medical School has led the world in conducting research that focuses on the health effects of media use by children and adolescents.

CMCH translates this scientific evidence into effective action steps for parents, teachers, and clinicians, and innovates new media applications designed to improve children’s health and development. CMCH research and the clinical experience of “The Mediatrician”, Michael Rich, MD, MPH, have shown that while many young people are able to benefit from constant connectivity and information access, a growing population of children and families are suffering.

Anchor 1

Disabling, out-of-control relationship with technology,

was first described by CMCH researchers as

Problematic Interactive Media Use (PIMU)

Problematic use of media contributes

sleep deprivation

obesity

academic failure

substance use

cyberbullying

Social isolation

sexting,

anxiety

and

depression

EP3 FOUNDATION

UNLOCK BEHAVIORAL HEALTH DATA SILOS

The clinic addresses new media-health issues and develops, evaluates, and disseminates proven medical models for treating and preventing problematic media disorders.

PEDIATRIC

Pediatric patients and their families seek treatment and prevention of problematic media use.

BEHAVIORAL HEALTH

Patients include adolescents whose health, relationships, or education are suffering due to their social media, gaming, online video or pornography use.

PRACTITIONERS

The clinical team include medical doctor, psychiatrist, psychologist, and social worker who specializes in the treatment of youth dealing with media-related health issues,

They evaluate and provide action plans proven to improve health outcomes.

LIKE THE AIR THAT WE BREATH AND THE WATER WE DRINK, MEDIA ARE A POWERFUL HEALTH INFLUENCE

NEW OPEN FRAMEWORKS

CMCH leads the world in research focused on the health effects of media use by children and adolescents. The Center:

Treats and helps families prevent the known media health issues identified by CMCH’s research.

Addresses new media-health issues and develops, evaluates, and disseminates proven medical models for treating and preventing problematic media disorders.

Assess children and adolescents whose health, relationships, or education are suffering due to their social media, gaming, online video or pornography use.

PROVEN MODELS

CIMAID’s clinical program builds the evidence to characterize these new health issues and develop, evaluate, and disseminate proven medical models for treating and preventing PIMU.

DATA IS KEY

To succeed the patients and program need to provide privacy protected, comprehensive data even when patients live out of the state, enroll in different treatment plans, and have various providers.

PROVIDERS

. Treatment protocols are based on best practices gathered from Dr. Rich’s years of clinical experience treating media-related health problems and comprehensive research evidence from CMCH and around the world.

ACTIONABLE
HEALTH DATA

With the rise of children dealing with PIMU and families desperate for help, these data can be used to develop effective prevention strategies to be integrated into pediatric well-child visits, so that children and their families can avoid PIMU and other media-related health problems in the future.

The Center, CMCH, and academic affiliates, Harvard Medical School and Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, build the evidence to characterize these new health issues and develop, evaluate, and disseminate proven medical models for treating and preventing PIMU.