Social media has major influence on our daily lives, but it can have an even more negative effect on the mental health of our young people.

We'll discuss this and other issues surrounding social media next on this edition of SCETV's Safe Space .

♪ ♪ Hi, I'm Brittney Brackett, and welcome to this edition of SCETV's Safe Space .

Now, as we all know, teens spend an extraordinarily large amount of time with their mobile devices, either online or on social media.

But is this really good for their mental health?

A recent survey conducted by the Royal Society for Public Health asked 14 to 24 year olds how social media platforms impacted their health and wellbeing.

The survey results found that Snapchat, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram all led to increased feelings of depression, anxiety, poor body image and loneliness.

Tonight, we've assembled students, community activists and mental health professionals to give insight and real world solutions to help our young people navigate the sometimes troubled waters of social media.

Here with us tonight, we have Ava Katherine Jordan, a junior at Lexington High and anchor of Wildcat TV .

We also have Coach Kelly Simmons III, speaker, facilitator and founder of Empowered to Win Leadership, and Ms. Ka'Bria Drummond, native of Charleston, South Carolina, who serves as a licensed professional counselor with the Department of Mental Health.

Our next group of guests, we have typically Jae vocalist, author, youth activist and founder of Beauty, You Are Boot Camp.

We have Alec Jonas Franklin, also known as AJ, a senior at Midland Middle College.

We have Maya Pinto, who is a musician and a senior at the South Carolina Governor School for the Arts and Humanities.

And we have Representative Brandon Guffey with District 48.

He's a representative and founder of the Less Than 3 Foundation.

On this side, we have a lovely array of guests.

We have Ms. Gabby Goodwin, who is CEO of Confidence, a youth entrepreneur and inventor of GaBBY Bows.

We have Ms. Emmeline McKelvey, who's a senior at Lexington High.

We have Marisol Duran, a junior at Richland two, and she's from Moore, Oklahoma.

We also have Mr. Carter Hall, who's a senior at Lexington High, and Mrs. Olivia Brown, Executive Director of NAMI Mid-Carolina.

So, Ms. Drummond, we are going to start off with you and talk a little bit about some of the effects that you've seen of social media on teens in the community.

<Ka'Bria> I think social media, for all of us, just that pressure to be perfect, which just causes a lot of depression, anxiety when we don't meet those standards.

I think also just some self doubt, some body image issues, as you stated when you first opened up.

So honestly, I think we all just live in a world where we're just trying to be perfect from what we see on social media.

And when we don't meet those standards, it really affects our mental health in a negative way.

Thank you so much, Ka'Bria, for that.

And we're going to talk a little bit more on that in just a bit.

We'll hear more from our guests in the studio.

But first, let's hear Bryson's story.

Bryson is a charismatic young man who experienced bullying throughout his grade school years.

He dealt with depression, anger and many other emotions unfamiliar to his personality.

But with the help of his mentor, Bryson pushed through these challenges to attend Morris College on full baseball scholarship and became a leader in his community.

<Bryson> I look back at where I was and how what people will say to me will put me down, but now I'm even working even harder now than I was before.

The baseball team I'm on now, the New York Yankees really helped me a lot with my recruiting process with Morris College going there to play baseball and have education there.

While in college, I'm still going to keep in touch with Coach Kelly.

<Coach Kelly> When it comes to bullying, when we've been impacted or affected by people or situations, we paint it up and we mask it, by one, not saying anything.

But I'm telling you, is that the way to win, right, is to, one, be able to self advocate and speak to someone that you trust.

<Bryson> Coach Kelly is like a father figure to me, because in my household it's just me and my mom and that's all it is.

When he came, it was like we clicked so well and he just mentored me.

And it really started for me, I'll say, in middle school, because I didn't know nobody there.

And I was just one of those kids that stayed quiet.

So people was easy to pick on.

They, like, pushed me into lockers one would always just tease me, always talking about how my mom was not nothing.

How does it feel to not have a dad in the home?

Personal stuff like that.

It was just gettin' under my skin.

I'll just tell my mom that I don't feel like going to school.

>> I didn't know he went through a lot of the stuff that he went through, and so he started to to share those things and for him to go through all of that and not share, you know, completely what he was going through, but to persevere and keep at it.

I think any other person would have just quit.

>> The reality is the day to day challenges, and we talk about that in our program is is identifying the challenges that they're having because social media and mental health, I think they do play hand in hand because by virtue of what we see, it affects what we think.

I see where depression, students faced with depression.

They're faced with anxiety, comparing themselves.

>> I didn't think this kid that's always smiling and hanging out would ever feel depressed.

And that really concerned me.

He has always been the only African-American kid on the team.

Always.

Ever since he started playing baseball in high school, we really had to have that talk because it was really affecting him the way that people would treat him.

When people were actually trying to figure out what was wrong, I would just lash out on them.

<Retoisha> But I noticed he was dealing with cyber bullying because he would get on his phone immediately.

And I'm talking to him, you know, on the ride home, trying to gauge his day or whatever.

He's like, (emulates typing sounds) "What are you doing?

What are you texting?"

And he'd get a little snappy with me because whatever was going on on that phone, it had his full attention.

Things were said like, he'll never be good enough, or all you care about is the hype, and all you care about is looking good and you're just happy to wear the uniform.

<Bryson> They won't say it to me in person, they'll say it to my other teammates, and them not knowing that those teammates would tell me what they're saying and it would get back to me.

And sometimes they'll text it to me and I just play it like, Wow.

I didn't know that's how you really felt.

We're all supposed to be a team.

We all supposed to be happy for everybody.

Every time they accomplish something, be happy for each other, not putting each other down.

The mistake I made was kept responding back to the person that was bullying me.

What I should have done was just block them and just gone on with my day, because when I kept texting them back, they just kept saying more things and more things, and it kept getting in my head even more.

For me, I take social media very just, to like, no texting, and take 2 to 3 weeks and just focus on me and getting my mental stability back.

I transferred to the new school, Richland Northeast High School, and I started working hard over the summer and I ended up committing to Morris College, and everybody gave me applause on that.

And that is like motivating me even more.

So people that are actually getting bullied right now are going through a hard time.

I'll just say, "Just keep pushing through," "Don't give up, just find somebody that you trust that you can really talk to about what you're going through, because keeping them emotions inside are not good.

It's just going to make things worse, and just don't give up.

Just keep going.

<Coach Kelly> We've had an opportunity to see Bryson to be, you know, be involved in the community and and I'll be honest, that has been one of the things that has really helped us to connect.

Just being present and sharing those stories and getting to know him a lot better.

Despite adversity and challenges that he's gone through, he's been able to navigate through them all, very proud of him, and it's just been a delight to see his growth and development.

<Brittney> Wow.

So, Coach Kelly, you see the impression that you've made on Bryson.

There are so many issues with social media.

Teens are dealing with a lot.

So what do you think is something that they could do immediately to help them boost their mood, boost their well-being, and to live a positive, productive life?

Well, one, I think seeing that they are the key to their success and seeing the value within themselves and we talk about a lot of having a vision, you know, that's where their desire is, what it is that you want to do and how do you pursue that.

But the key is seeing the value that you bring to the table, but then also just having the right people around you, the right circle to help you, support you and your efforts and what it is that you have a desire to do.

That's, that's the key to success.

<Brittney> Surrounding yourself with good people, that's important.

And so more good people to my right over here, I want to know what you think as well.

Specifically since we're talking about students, let's let's talk to Maya, let's talk to AJ.

How have you experienced you know, like that FOMO issue that everybody has, the fear of missing out, right?

You look at social media and man, all these things are happening.

How does that affect you?

<Maya> I think for me personally, it can it can be really negative.

I mean, I'll definitely see my friends posting, like going out downtown and I'm just like, Oh man, I really wish I could be there.

<Brittney> What about you, AJ?

<AJ> Yeah, I've gone I've gone through that a lot.

Seeing friends, being out, wishing I was there.

But what I did to get through that was put myself in a situation where I knew I could do better, like focusing on school more, focusing on maybe going to hang out my little brother a little more, doing things that I can control right now because I can't control that I can't be there.

I can control what I can do to better myself today, though.

<Brittney> Excellent.

See, it's the mindset.

A lot of times it's that mindset.

So to my students on this side over here, I've got Gabby.

So Gabby, what are your thoughts on your self-care practices?

You know, like what does it take to get you to a better place after that scrolling for a minute or two that turns into 30 minutes, right?

<Gabby> Yeah, I think first off, it's like actually turning off your phone.

Like, that's something that's really important.

I don't really use social media a lot because I don't really have personal social media, but I know for, like, business, if I'm posting and if I just get caught up on like my mom's Facebook feed or something and it was like, okay, we're looking back at memories or looking back at pictures and it's just like in my brain, negative emotions.

Or I may bring emotions of, you know, you're looking back at other memories and reminiscing on them with different things like that.

So I think but definitely with friends as well, they're always on Tik Tok, always on Instagram and I think the thing is to really focus on what you enjoy.

And I mean, obviously Tik Tok can be enjoyable, especially if you have like a For You page that is really like for you, <Brittney> Just don't go down the rabbit hole.

<Gabby> Don't go down the rabbit hole.

but also just be able to do the things that you enjoy.

So I mean, I dance, I'm on my school's dance team and I think something that helps me calm down and actually process my emotions is doing dance.

<Brittney> Calming down is great, right?

There are pros and cons to social media.

You know, we see the marketing, the ads, all these things that are like we're inundated with social media.

How do you separate the fun stuff from the shopping and how do you get control of all of that with your emotions?

What do you all do?

What's your practice?

<Carter> So for me, if I see, like, an ad or something that I just don't want to see, I'll go and like report the ad if I don't want to see it and in there, depending on what the app is, you can go and like say, not interested, not for me.

I know on Tik Tok, if you see a video that you just, like, don't want to see, you don't want to, like, see more of that, you can hold down on it.

And next to, like, the favorite stuff, there's a button that says not interested.

And so, I'll click, "not interested" and you can even, I think, like, say, like, why you're not interested.

But I always just hit, "not interested" if I don't want to see it.

<Brittney> So, even as we're talking about all the settings and everything, how do you balance the connection with family, friends, to your engagement?

Like, positive engagement?

How do you gauge that with your entertainment?

What's the difference?

<Carter> So I think there's, like, some apps, like, Tik Tok, you're not necessarily on there to see your family.

You're on there to see more of like entertaining videos.

But if you go on to something like Facebook that's more of like catching up with family.

So, it's like you almost have the different apps for what you want to see.

<Brittney> Right So, cat videos, cat videos all over the place.

It's therapeutic.

It's therapeutic.

So, Ava, I know you are an anchor for Wildcat TV.

Does anyone ever talk to you about how you represent yourself on social media?

You know, like, do you try to set a good example?

What are some things that you do to try to really reach out to your students, your fellow students?

<Ava> So, I do my best to kind of put my best foot forward, making sure that it's the best version of myself that I'm presenting both in school and on social media.

And I do my best to reach out to people, like, I have a lot of friends.

I was in Spanish immersion, so I've been with the same group of kids since kindergarten learning half of my day in Spanish, so sometimes I won't see those kids as often.

And even though they're like my family, I'll still miss them and want to reach out to them.

So I do my best to kind of occasionally reach out to them and check on them and see how they're doing.

And that is one benefit of social media is having that ability.

And even though I don't see them on a daily anymore, I can so keep up with what's going on in their lives.

<Brittney> Excellent, excellent.

There are so many ways that social media can be great for us, but you just have to be able to balance.

It's like, literally, a balancing act, balancing act.

So, Marisol, have you ever felt the need to take a break from social media?

<Marisol> Yes, there's times occasionally where I just feel like I need to separate myself completely from social media because you can just go down a hole where you can't pick yourself back up.

So there's times where I'm like, okay, I shut down everything, I delete everything.

I'll go for a week.

If I feel like I'm better, then maybe I'll start, you know, I'll download stuff again and controlling myself at my certain limits.

<Brittney> Okay.

The fact that you have that and you're cognizant of it is excellent.

It can be difficult to be strong when you're looking for shoes and you know, and you're trying to talk to friends.

So please, Ms. Drummond, give us some tips for how we can manage our actions on social media to not tap into that negative space.

<Ka'Bria> I think just taking a break, of course, you know, iPhones, maybe even Androids.

I'm not 100% sure because I'm an iPhone user.

Sorry, but iPhones, I know you can put like time limits.

I know even on like apps, certain apps you can turn off comments or hide offensive words or hide offensive things that you don't want to see, like we've already talked about.

So I think just knowing like when enough is enough and knowing, you know, okay, this is taking too much of my mental capacity or it's becoming too negative.

So I just need to take a break and just really being okay with it.

Because it's one thing to say, "Oh, I'll take a break and turn off notifications," but still get on the app and see stuff.

And so, maybe you have to, like, log out.

I know Facebook and Instagram, you can temporarily deactivate your page for, like, 30 days.

So doing something like that when it's just too much because social media can be too much sometimes.

<Brittney> Right, right.

I'm not a parent yet, but I need parental-- I need all of these things on my little phone so I can put it down, but it is tricky.

You know, you want to be able to interact and you want to be able to talk to your friends and go on with your day without being overwhelmed.

Right?

We've got to figure out a way to be less overwhelmed.

So, Coach, we're going to go back to you.

Coach Kelly, I have heard since we're talking about it that social media can be addictive.

How do you think that has an impact on our teens?

<Coach Kelly> Well, one, going back to just value that they see in themselves.

I mean, we're in a society we compare ourselves to so much.

You know, if my situation don't look like the image that's being portrayed, because the reality is that the reality may not necessarily be the reality at face value.

Is that, again, just being aware that all of us have those challenges.

And I think that, you know, we have triggers.

And I think one of the things is identifying again, the things that's going to help me to be successful, to achieve my goals, dreams.

Personally, I think making sure that, again, there's accountability.

Holding ourselves accountable, teaching children, and that's what we do with our students, to teach them to be accountable, that, hey, if that's not my reality, if that's not my challenge, then I don't have to necessarily take that on, you know, personally.

And I think having that that balance and having those flags and say, you know, hey, I'm going back as we talked about the rabbit hole, you know, that that is really not my reality.

So again, being able to kind of have those boundaries and limitations, I think is very, very important with students to understand that.

<Brittney> True.

Like I said, I need parental controls on my own phone, so... <Coach Kelly> Yeah, yeah.

<Brittney> So going back to it being addictive, social media, how it tries to target us and make us buy things and do things and see things.

How do you feel, Ms. Drummond?

How do you feel that we can find some mental health support online?

What's a good way that students can feel more comfortable if they don't feel like going to their family or their friends, they don't feel comfortable?

What are some resources that they can tap into?

<Ka'Bria> Well, I definitely think social media has this negative side, but it also has its positive side.

There's so many Instagram pages or Tik Tok users, whether it's therapists or even just people who talk about their own personal life.

So sometimes just maybe going on to those pages and following those pages, I think a lot of times we're in control of what we expose ourselves to.

So the pages that we follow, maybe just follow more positive pages, even podcasts or books.

I mean, I think just really looking at your following or what you're looking at and saying, "You know what?

We're tired of seeing all the negative stuff, so maybe I'll follow something more positive."

<Brittney> Positive.

That's a perfect way to end just this segment.

But next, we will look at a tragic story of the negative effects of social media.

Representative Brandon Guffey had a choice to make after losing his son, Gavin, to suicide.

After Gavin was targeted in sextortion.

His choice was simple either dwell in his grief or get up and fight to keep the same thing from happening to other families.

>> This is the ceremonial bill signing of Gavin's Law, which was written in honor of my son whenever I lost him July 27th of last year, which makes the crime of sextortion illegal in South Carolina and adds the awareness aspect to force the state of South Carolina to make all citizens aware of the crime of sextortion.

So Gavin had just graduated high school and was going off to Winthrop University to be an art teacher.

And one night he started getting messages.

He was on Instagram from a girl that was at a college saying that you're cute.

It turned into more personal sharing of images.

And then he finds out that, of course, it's not a girl.

They immediately start to extort him for money, threatening that they're going to share images with everyone.

And within an hour and 40 minutes of the conversation starting, Gavin had taken his life.

After going through that, I wanted to quit.

And my wife said, "No, you're one of the few people that can actually make a change."

Get in there and do this for our son and make sure other families do not have to go through this.

And that's what started this entire journey.

And I do believe that I'm helping other children.

You know, if people were speaking up about this prior, perhaps I wouldn't be in the situation that I am with Gavin.

I can tell you, hundreds of teens that reached out without parents, but there's been at least a dozen that I know that have reached out and said that just sharing the information allowed them to go to their parents or go to law enforcement with it.

And they were suicidal prior.

You know, whenever everything happened, the people that gathered around, I wouldn't even say just the community, the state, the country, just people from all over, once they started hearing about Gavin's story, rallied around helping out.

But as we started to come through this with the law, I go into the State House and all of the freshman legislators are gathered around my desk prior each week.

And we're talking strategy about how we get Gavin's law passed.

You know, we've made it a top priority to get it passed as we started rolling into the nonprofit, you know, we've got everything from a local business that is donating all their property for us to have this event, to we've got eight bands that aren't charging us a thing and they're coming out there and playing for free, which to go towards Less Than 3.

The nonprofit is Less Than 3, which is the symbol here.

It's the last text that Gavin sent out.

Prior to emojis, it was a heart.

The majority of suicides are impulsive.

The times when he makes the decision to the time they commit the act is typically 20 minutes, but if there's a gun involved, it's less than 3 minutes.

So originally we wanted to name the nonprofit Tomorrow Needs You because that's our message that we keep trying to spread.

But instead, I felt like it was leading us to the Less Than 3.

I'd like to think that he would be proud.

I think he would have the most fun or laugh at the governor actually seeing his artwork.

I think he would like that more than anything, but I think he would be proud and just being able to spread the word because so many teens came to me that he counseled or helped out in dark times, I think he would be proud that his dad, who is always the black and white, straightforward guy, is the guy out here talking to teens and trying to be there for them at the same time and carry on his legacy.

♪ <Brittney> Representative Guffey, thank you so very much for being here.

And we're so sorry about the loss of your son.

We are blessed with the impact that you've made with Gavin's Law.

So I think the biggest takeaway for mental health has really changed the game with politics in the state of South Carolina and beyond.

So what do you think you want youth to know most about your loss with Gavin?

<Brandon> Oh, number one, tomorrow, I need you.

That's the most important message to realize that virtual reality is not reality and that none of us are perfect.

We're all going to make mistakes.

And for too long we're telling people that everything they do online will stay with them forever.

And I believe a lot of it falls back to our culture of not having grace and realizing that just because we made a mistake at this point doesn't mean that we're not a better person today and we're too busy trying to act perfect.

I believe that we've got to get back to a point to where not only do we not hide our shame, we embrace it and say this is progress.

<Brittney> That's good.

And, you know, sometimes we take for granted the fact that social media is just everywhere we look, right?

It's in our hand, it's in our house, on our desktop, on our laptop.

And the fact that we're inundated messes with our mental health without us even knowing it.

So, Ms. Brown, I want to get your thoughts on this as well, dealing with NAMI, what are some of the ways that you are able to reach out to the community and help teens be more empowered with their mental health?

<Zenethia> We actually do presentations for teens on their own self care.

You know, we don't think about our youth as needing to take care of themselves or to, you know, like you said, unplug or things like that.

You know, go to school, get good grades and come back home, but they need self care as well.

And they need to understand the different coping skills that are out there.

Some teens, some youth don't even understand what what is out there that can help them, you know, to know that what you do can't be, you know, doesn't have to stay with you forever.

You know, what you do can be undone.

And you know, some people sing, some people dance, You know, some people like coloring books.

But whatever is out there, you know, we try to help expose them to the different coping skills so they know that these tools are out there for them and it will help them to get past, you know, their depression, their anxiety or whatever they're going through at that time.

<Brittney> Well, even as I listen to you express all of this, what are some ways that we can tap in a little bit deeper?

You know, I work with youth as well, and I know that it can be difficult trying to relate.

You know, I'm not going to talk about how old I am, but it can be difficult because there's so much slang and there are so many different ways to communicate now, so many different social media outlets.

So Emeline, I want to talk to you now about your mental health struggles, if you might have had any dealing with social media, too.

<Emmeline> Um, so I started going to therapy probably about six months ago because of social media just scrolling through and seeing how perfect I think this girl is.

And I look nothing like that and seeing the comments and how many likes this girl gets.

And I'm like, "Well, what do people think about me if they're thinking this about this girl?"

And so it just greatly affected my mental health.

Just like self-image issues.

And so I feel like therapy has definitely helped me with the struggle.

And I kind of I'm the social media manager for like six different things at school, so I don't really have a way to, like, avoid it.

But I definitely have ways that I can, like, unplug and just not think about it.

My mom and I just, we have, like, my mom and I struggle with similar things, so we have like our ways to deal with that.

But I mean, there's no way to avoid it.

Just because, like, it is such a part of our daily life that there is really no way to truly escape that.

But there are ways that you can deal with it in a more positive way.

<Brittney> Well, you said yourself therapy is a great place to start.

But, you know, talking about the resources, not everyone can afford therapy, right?

Not all therapy is covered with insurance.

So coming back to our counselor here, you know, I have a therapist.

You know, I count those coins when I'm going to visit, right?

But it's it's important and it's something that we can benefit from.

How can students who might not have those resources, where can they go?

<Ka'Bria> I think for teens, at least teens that are in public school, they usually have school based therapies.

I know I was at a private school, so I didn't have that resource.

But for myself and other therapists in the community, we work at high schools, middle schools, elementary schools, through the Department of Mental Health, and nine times out of ten we don't turn anyone away.

We take private insurance, Medicaid, no insurance.

I think outside of that support groups, I'm sure there are a lot of support groups in the community for those that are Christian or active in church.

And even if you are active in a church, I think groups there, I know a lot of churches are trying to tap into mental health and providing services for that.

I also think, like, for people that may not want to talk to a therapist or, you know, that stigma behind mental health still, there are phone numbers you can call like, of course, suicide, which they just changed the number to something shorter, 9-8-8, and that's a quick and easy number.

Calling that number or even, I believe you can text the number as well if you don't want to talk on the phone.

I know for Department of Health we have, like, a mobile crisis number 24-7, 365 days that you can reach out to that number.

<Brittney> And it's anonymous, correct?

<Ka'Bria> Yes, I believe that one is anonymous.

And so I think just looking into those resources and utilizing those, but also, I mean, just because therapy may not be affordable, I think just looking into that, because there are a lot of therapists that do offer pro-bono or sliding scale fees or even just, hey, I know you can't afford this, but for you I will help you.

So I think definitely not turning a blind eye to that just because you feel like you can't afford it, you never know until you reach out.

<Brittney> Well, that's great.

Thank you so very much for that.

And of course, we're going to come back to Representative Guffey.

Again, so sorry for the loss of your son.

What advice would you give to teens that are struggling with mental health or if it comes up on them so fast, what are some things that they might be able to do to cope?

<Guffey> I'm a big believer, in order to change an emotion, you've got to create emotion.

So sometimes that's running until you're done.

Sometimes that's, you know, going to the gym, sometimes that's just going out for a walk.

Skateboarding, biking, anything that you can do to just change the physical component of changing your emotions, is something that we lack a lot of because whenever we're seeking help, instead of disconnecting and getting out in nature, we're getting on our phone looking for help.

But I believe a lot of it can be changed just by getting out and just that complete disconnect, but also using your emotions to change your or using emotion to change your emotions.

<Brittney> Excellent.

Excellent.

And as far as the legislative work that you've done, what are some of the new laws potentially that are going to be birthed from this?

<Brandon> I'm actually trying to push for an entire committee to focus on cyber crimes.

But one of the things social media algorithms, I think that what we don't realize is that we're all under attack.

<Brittney> Yeah.

And whenever you have these companies that are tracking children's information and controlling the narrative and showing them what they want, causing that fear of missing out feeling, and causing that less-than feeling, you know, I think those companies need to be held responsible.

And I think that they shouldn't be able to track our children.

And I believe a lot of a lot of it just goes back to that marketing aspect.

Social media can be great, but you also need to be able to understand how to navigate to it.

And whenever you've got this data machine behind it saying, "I only want to look at things that are red color, orange color," then it's going to feed you down that and you start off with a girl that wants to lose 5 pounds for summer and the next thing you know she's on an anorexic page and it's just feeding her down the rabbit hole because it's showing her more and more of what she wants to see.

But it has a negative impact.

<Brittney> You know, like I said before, it's that balancing act, you know, the pros and cons of social media, the pros and cons with the marketing and what we can learn and what we can gain, but what we have lost because of these things, too.

So I'm going to pitch back to Coach Kelly.

So Coach Kelly, as we are doing all this talking about youth and empowering them, of course, empowered to win, I love that, with leadership.

How can we tap into the leadership qualities as we talk about mental health?

What are some ways that we can kind of marry the two?

<Coach Kelly> I think, you know, one of the processes we use is one, teaching students how to self advocate.

Once they understand what self advocating is, not selfishness, but learning how to use their voice.

And again, going back to vision, what is the desire within you?

Hey, I want to be a mechanic, because there's no cookie cutter approach to education.

Everyone is not going four year, everyone's not going two year.

Some may want to go to military or straight into the workforce.

And so going back to that vision and seeing that vision then now, hey, this is the target.

So how do we use leadership, right?

Starting with yourself, kind of having direction and now seeing as you being the key to your own success, how do you bring that and add value to others?

And so it's amazing, even when you're dealing with mental health, anxiety, depression, it's amazing what can happen by just serving others, right?

And so, yeah, your education, the desires that you have is not necessarily for you, even though there's a benefit, but it really ultimately is about serving other people.

<Brittney> Serving others, the selflessness, that's the key.

As access to the internet for children and young adults becomes increasingly easy, so does the ability of perpetrators to target them.

The doors may be locked to your home, but it's an enemy that's already on the inside.

Let's now look at how law enforcement has stepped up its game to combat the problem.

♪ You go home at night and you make sure your windows are locked and your doors are locked and your security lights are on, and you've got your ring cam set up, your internet's wide open.

They don't have to wait the bus stop.

They don't have to hide in the bushes at night.

They just have to go online.

It's easy.

>> Now, because of technology, these perpetrators have unfettered access to the child through the devices.

<Kevin> We're seeing a huge increase in sextortion.

That's probably daily, where we're getting some escalation type report where, most times, it's someone that's shared nude images, they have self-produced those images or either were forced or coerced to do that.

And then somebody's then blackmailed them saying, "Hey, if you don't turn over $500 on this card, I'm going to submit to all your friends on Instagram, Facebook.

And these people are pretty good at getting, I mean, they take over their lives and unfortunately led to higher rates of suicide.

It knows no bounds.

There's no socioeconomic line.

Nobody's immune to it.

For us, we can't arrest our way out of the problem.

You have to be proactive.

And we also have to stay on the cutting edge of technology.

And so we have a digital forensics unit here that does digital forensics for most of the arrests that comes through for our task force.

>> So we're doing investigations for pretty much any type of electronic media that you can think of.

So this is for hard drives in computers, laptops, SD cards, out of cameras, cell phones, tablets, pretty much anything, thumb drives, that can hold digital media.

We're examining forensically, we're looking at every single image that's on a computer.

Most people don't realize that's every mouse icon that's every video game file or picture, that's every social media, Facebook logo.

It can be hundreds of thousands, if not millions.

But we have the ability to run all the images on a device into a program that will exclude everything that we've looked at before, that we've marked as non pertinent.

And we'll also flag everything that we said, "Hey, this is known child sexual exploitive material."

And it will flag it for us to know.

So we only have to look at the stuff that we've never really seen before.

We have the training and the knowledge of how to get into these devices, how to extract the data forensically so that we're not contaminating or changing any information that is there so that we can prove who's behind the computer, who's sitting at that device, and we can put the bad guy in jail.

We're saving these children from being sexually exploited.

<Kevin> And then one of the cool things we've got going around the state now is we have some electronic sniffing canines, which those are mostly labs that are dedicated to going on scene, working on search warrants and looking for items that we may have missed because we're looking for things as small as your pinky nail.

<Det.

Bowen> So this is Cipher.

We call them electronic storage detection canines.

Every electronic device that has memory in it has a chemical odor.

The dogs are able to smell that odor.

And so we use them to go into places where we do search warrants and make sure that we don't miss any devices that could potentially contain evidence.

The average is 1 to 2 evidentiary devices every time we take them out that we would have otherwise missed.

I've been in a house where your feet never touched the floor because there was just so much stuff.

And even with all that odor and all that distraction, they're trained to locate those devices.

And so you have micro SD cards, which are about the size of your pinky nail that will hold hundreds of gigabytes of data now.

And so it becomes especially important when we have that local victim that we try to obtain all of the images that we can, one, for use in court and trial proceedings, but also so that we can try to stop those images from being circulated.

I'm a father.

I have two boys, two teenage boys, and I've seen the impact that these types of crimes that sexual abuse and sexual exploitation can have on a child just doing these investigations.

And so anything we can do to prevent that is fulfilling to be a part of.

<Brittney> Ms. Zenethia, as a parent, you see that we have so much going on in our community, law enforcement.

You know, they sometimes are parents as well.

How do you teach your child to be able to manage themselves and their emotions with social media?

Honestly, for me, I actually you know, I have I have the hard conversations with my my sons.

I have two boys and I learned about sextortion last year.

And as a parent, I have to understand that there's nothing that can't happen to me.

And so I sat them down and I had that conversation with them, to explain to them that there's nothing out there that I can't forgive.

They hated every moment of it.

You know, they do not want to listen.

But anything that comes up, you know, as a parent, you think to yourself, well, that'll never happen to my child.

Or, you know, we... No, have the hard conversation and sit down and talk to them whether they like it or not, because they need to know that your love is unconditional, your acceptance is unconditional, and there's nothing out there that they do that can't be undone, that you won't forgive.

There's nothing out there that's worth their life.

So you have to have those conversations, even if you don't think that your child would do that.

There's new technology, there are new scams, there are new ways into your home every day that people are coming up with.

So we have to be ready to have the conversations and stop, you know, stop those thoughts.

<Brittney> Well, that's definitely a great place to start.

You know, the hard conversations, it's not easy.

It's not at all easy.

And even as someone that works with kids, teens, back to our students here tossing it to you, Carter, I wonder, do your friends have the same emotions and do they battle with social media in the same way that you do, or did they handle it differently?

What do they do?

<Carter> So I think that a couple of my friends do have some of the similar struggles that I do have because we've talked about it and we've been able to almost, like, together so-called, like, face it and like, we both, like, me and one of my friends will both delete Instagram for however long.

We'll both go put our phones on airplane mode or go put our phones in another room and just like be there and just like not even have to worry about social media or phones or anything like that.

<Brittney> That's good, a little bit of avoidance, right?

And nothing wrong with that.

Gabby, what about you?

So as we're talking about how our friends cope with social media and the effects of it, whether it's negative or positive, you know, I have some friends that love social media.

They're, you know, influencers, this and that.

They live by it, swear by it.

What about you, your friends?

How do they feel about it?

<Gabby> Yeah.

So my friends, I guess I kind of have a love hate relationship with social media as well.

It's like some of them really do love it and kind of can't stay off of it.

But then there are times where they will regulate their use of it.

I know one of my friends that constantly has a time limit on her phone.

She might even like delete some social media platforms or sometimes.

So just being able to watch them because again, I don't really have the same experiences they do because they were kind of given a phone at a younger age, given social media at a younger age than I was.

And so just kind of looking at them, seeing how they are responding to social media, using social media, I see it as like a fun thing or something that they can regulate, but sometimes it can be to the point of comparison, where we're talking about, you see this person or you see this thing going on and they want to be like, I want to be like that, like, it's not the reality, so being able to kind of help them, guide them in the right direction as well, because we all know that there can be false reality on social media as well.

<Brittney> The false reality, it's like Stranger Things , right?

The... upside down.

So Ava, as a person at your school that is a news anchor, how do you think that plays into not just your appearance online, but how your fellow students view you?

<Ava> So, recently, I've definitely had a lot of people come up to me that I've never met before.

They're just like, "Oh, aren't you the anchor?"

And I'm like, "Hi, yeah, nice to meet you!"

So it's definitely something that's intimidating, at least for me.

And I know that it's also helped me make a lot of new friends.

So having people feel like they're familiar with me and at least know my name has made them feel more comfortable to come up and speak to me because I've been told that I can be intimidating just because I think that I look kind of mean, like, when I'm not, when I'm not smiling.

But so having that opportunity to get to meet new people and make new friends has been really neat.

And just being able to get my name out there so that I can meet those new friends.

<Brittney> Excellent.

So you're not just about all those followers, right?

There's more to life than followers.

Ms. TiffanyJ, it is a pleasure to have you here.

Thank you so much for the work that you do with youth as well.

So as we're chatting, what are some things that your a boot camp pours into students?

What are some things that you teach them?

Well, I'm very confident that one thing we offer is a listening ear.

Being an active listener, I know a lot of times as adults we don't understand the things that the youth or the teens go through and just people in general.

When you're battling depression or low self-esteem or, you know, contemplating suicide, sometimes you don't want to get all of the advice.

Sometimes you just want somebody to be a listening ear just to validate your feelings at the moment so you can move on past that.

So I'm very humble when I say I think that we just offer these girls an opportunity to express themselves, however that is at the moment and validate those feelings.

<Brittney> I think that's perfect.

Sometimes, you just need to vent, right?

Who, and let me let me ask Maya.

So, Maya, who is it that you vent to, a person that you trust to talk to about your mental health, what's going on?

How you can just let it loose, right?

<Maya> I talk to my mom all the time about everything.

<Brittney> How does your mom feel?

Is she proud to know that you trust her in that way?

<Maya> I would really hope she is.

She loves hearing about, like, my emotions, how I'm feeling, and because of where I'm at at school, I don't see her face-to-face often.

I live in a dorm and she definitely appreciates the phone calls that I give her daily.

And where I talk about, I don't know, drama, just everyday life, at school.

And I feel very open with her.

I love her a lot.

<Brittney> Awesome.

AJ, what about you?

<AJ> Yeah, definitely my mom.

My mom's my best friend.

I tell her everything.

We talk all day, every day.

If I need something, I call my mom up.

So, I definitely unload all my stuff that I got going on on her and she takes it and every time and she'll be right there the next time I need it to So someone I can always trust.

And she knows she can trust me if she needs to talk to me too.

We've been through a lot together, me and her, so.

<Brittney> Wow.

<AJ> Yeah.

<Brittney> Y'all are each other's shoulder to lean on and cry on, right?

<AJ> Yeah, I look at my mom as my backbone.

That's how I put it.

My opinion.

I don't know if she'll put me as that, but I put her as that.

<Brittney> If they're watching, they're going to be having a little tear come down, so.

<AJ> Hey, mom!

(panelists giggling) <Brittney> So what about you, Marisol?

Do you have someone that you can vent to?

<Marisol> Definitely my mom.

<Brittney> Mom again?

<Marisol> Yes, she says things to me that really helps me.

In a way, she's like my therapist or maybe even better.

But yeah, she's always been there for me, no matter what.

Never judges me.

And we have a strong connection and we always support each other through our struggles in life.

And I really love her for that.

<Brittney> Excellent.

All these mothers would be so proud.

So, Ms. TiffanyJ, I'm going to close with you on this segment and just give me a piece of one of the topics that you talk about with your students.

<TiffanyJ> Well, if it's okay, I want to piggyback off of the mom and parents situation.

I think it's beautiful that these young people have that parental shoulder.

But the reality is a lot of young people are in fear of their parents' expectations about certain things.

We go back to those mistakes lasting forever.

So a lot of young people don't-- aren't comfortable going to mom or dad and saying, "Well, this is how my day went," because a lot of kids are hiding stuff from parents.

So if you have that parent-child relationship, it's beautiful.

I would encourage the young people here today to see if your friends also have that.

If they don't, maybe your parent can be that shoulder or maybe you can be that shoulder for your peers.

<Brittney> Excellent.

Excellent.

Thank you, Tiffany, for all that you do.

Now, Safe Space not only exists within the walls of ETV, but also throughout communities across the state.

We had a chance to visit TiffanyJ's weekend camp to spread a powerful and positive message of self-esteem.

♪ (singing and strumming guitar) ♪ Now that I see you ♪ ♪ I know that you're a star ♪ ♪ where you go I'll follow ♪ ♪ No matter how far ♪ ♪ If life is a movie ♪ ♪ Then you're the best part ♪ (speaking) Everybody!

♪ Oh, you're the best part ♪ (audience joins in) ♪ Ohh ♪ ♪ You're the best part ♪ (audience only) <Singer> Yes!

(cheers and applause) ♪ (indistinct chatter) ♪ I am the founder, curator of the Beauty You Are Boot Camp.

And today, this is our 10th annual session.

So I'm very excited about the growth of this program.

We started the Beauty You Are Boot camp in 2014 and it was a result of me overcoming my past experience with low self-esteem, depression.

At 12, I actually attempted to commit suicide.

So a lot of my story is based on me overcoming that suicide attempt and the low self-esteem and depression years of my life.

And I have a really strong passion and a soft spot for girls and hoping that they can grow up into being strong women and learning who they are a lot earlier than I had the opportunity to.

>> A lot of the young ladies today that we were talking to, they were talking about some of the pressures at school, some of the pressures in family life and just all around just pressures being young teenage women in this environment that we have.

Social media is something that they always used to compare themselves to other people.

And this workshop was able to try to highlight and also discuss some of these things that they were feeling.

<Raven> How or what can they do to cope with their stress better during the school year?

>> Sometimes, when we have a difficult topic, we might use humor or distract ourselves, because it's uncomfortable.

And that focus and that attention really told me that they were interested and taking it seriously.

We are all, as humans, have feelings.

We all have hard things that we go through.

We all are deserving of feeling at peace, to feel safe.

They have a voice and they should be heard.

♪ <Raven> It's very important that Safe Space is represented in any type of workshop that is helping to empower young teenagers about self-esteem and self-care and just about any mental health issues that they may be having.

<TiffanyJ> Therapy is something I did not receive or seek when I was going through the toughest parts of my life.

And it's something that I'm truly a champion for.

I think it's important that we learn early on what signs of suicide, signs of depression or learning what creating a safe space is.

So it was really important for me to invite ETV.

And I'm so thankful that ETV graciously extended the opportunity to have ETV Safe Space as part of the program this year.

(children singing) ♪ Shine bright like a diamond ♪ ♪ Shine bright like a diamond ♪ ♪ ♪ (song concludes) ♪ (cheers and applause) Thank you all so much for joining us today for ETV's Safe Space .

For more stories and details on the stories you've just seen, do visit our website at SCETV.org/SafeSpace.

And don't forget to follow us on social media, whether Facebook, Twitter and Instagram @SCETV#SCETVSafeSpace From all of us here at SCETV Safe Space , I'm Brittney Brackett.

Goodnight.

Thanks for watching.

♪ ♪ >> Yes, I have taken a break from social media just because sometimes it can get overwhelming.

Like, all the notifications are, like, people's reactions to certain things or, like, people's posts.

It can just be overwhelming sometimes, like overstimulating.

>> Every day, kids are just looking on the internet and when your parents ask you to do something, it's a problem.

And we're just too attached to the internet.

And what if this happens, and all?

>> For me, I stay on it, like, 24-7 sometimes.

But, you know, it can cause, like, distractions for people, especially when it comes to mental, because some people will be bullying other people, like on social media, as in cyberbullying.

<Marisol> And in a way, it could get obsessive at some times, or addictive, and you might not think of it, you know.

You might think, "Oh, I don't need that."

But, you know, and you don't realize how much it affects you, how much it can affect your life on a daily basis.

Or what people say to you online, people that you know, people that you don't know.

It can affect your daily life.

People can be really mean out there sometimes.

>> I feel confident if I put anything out, when I put something out and if something someone says has anything bad about it, I'll just just move on because it doesn't matter.

>> Yeah, just don't spend too much time on social media.

Social media, it can be a good thing, but it also can be a really bad thing.

Like you see people, you see people on Instagram being, like, (mocking) "living my best life" and "I'm doing better than you guys."

It's like, well, "No, you're not."

you know, "You don't all have perfect lives."

<Nehemiah> The best thing that I say for others is to take care of yourself first and foremost and always drive through.

Always go through and basically, stay focused on yourself, as in not focusing on what other people say.

<Micah> You just have to be mindful of, like, you know, who you follow, who you let follow you, because you can control that stuff, what you post, for sure, like you need to it like, boundaries, set boundaries and, like, how much you let that entertainment, like, take up your time and stuff so you can focus on, you know, like reality.

Definitely, like, set boundaries for yourself and limits.

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪