Table 4 What to ask when exploring online activities

Topics to always ask about:

Activities and content viewed

 • Gaming online

 • Social Media use (generating or browsing content)

 • Use of crisis services

 • Chatting to others with shared experience of mental health (e.g. via chat-rooms/ forums)

 • Use of apps

 • Viewing self-harm/ suicide-related content (e.g. methods and images)

 • Viewing graphic violence (eg. images/ videos of death or serious injury)

 • One-to-one online friendships

Online experiences

 • Cyberbullying

 • Being groomed

 • Radicalisation

 • ‘Doxing’—having personal information shared without consent (eg. intimate images)

Patterns of use/ activity

 • Frequency

 • Time spent online (eg. browsing)

 • Times of the day spent online

 • Changing use (e.g. peaks, dips, increases)

 • Impact on sleep

Topics to ask young people:

with disordered eating

with self-harm or suicidal thoughts

 • Visiting ‘pro-ana’ websites

• Looking up methods of harm/ suicide

 • Use of exercise apps

• Viewing images of self-harm

 • Use of dieting apps

• Joining forums to discuss self-harm

 • Online purchase of weight loss medicine

• Posting images of own self-harm

 • Obsessively viewing food-related sites

• Visiting pro self-harm/ suicide sites

 • Use of physical activity/ smart devices

• Individuals/ influencers followed

• Consuming media with themes of depression