First of Many 👀 💜

Happy Wednesday! Welcome to LINK's first ever newsletter. We believe it’s a parent's right to worry. But we’re here to help you Worry Smarter, Not Harder. This week, we’re covering the most urgent mental health news fresh out of the CDC and a parent’s guide to Instagram.

Want to discover new ways to boost your teen’s wellbeing? Chat now with a LINK mentor expert. 

Quick Thought From Us

Social media this, social media that. We get it, you are at your wits end with social media and its effects on basically the whole world. But, if you can’t beat em’, join em’?

We’re here to breakdown the social media apps that your teen is face down in. Got questions about specifics and how to work through them? 

A Parent’s Guide to Social Media - Get your lingo up to date 

Breaking down the basics so you understand how a social media app can affect your teen. Put on your thinking caps everyone, or should we say influencer caps…

~Instagram~

The Basics: The real point of this one is to share images about your life… but the currency here involves follower ratios, picture likes, and comments. You probably have noticed your teen wondering why Jessica from junior year unfollowed them and how their social standing has plummeted.

Users can also become victims of the ‘death scroll’ which consumes most people on the Reels section of the app. This is due to videos being uploaded in a format perfect for incessant scrolling.

Need to Know: The more followers you have, the more “popular” you are. Same goes for likes and comments - think of these as virtual compliments.

Also, accounts can be public and private but there is an opportunity to be hacked on this app. If this happens, check with Instagram directly and reset your teen's password.

How to Worry Smarter: Have conversations with your teen about having them keep their profile private and make sure they know who views their content. 

As always, be sure to emphasize the difference between reality and fantasy. Public content often includes photoshop, editing, and filters to make pictures look much more aesthetic. 

Finally, we recommend limiting screen time on this app because it’s all too easy to get sucked into the latest trends, fashion faux pas, and compare ourselves to the next biggest influencer.

Learning the Landscape - Being a teen in 2023, kinda sucks

The current generation of teenagers have suffered more than any other due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the stressors of the modern digital world. Teenagers face more pressure to succeed than ever before and the combination of social distancing and social media has left teens feeling lonely, stressed, and anxious. In addition, parents are drained and burned out trying to manage the unknown ramifications of their teens' struggles in an unfamiliar digital world. Teens have always turned to their friends and parents to help them get through the hard parts of adolescence. Unfortunately, in 2023, teens have been left to rely only on themselves. 

Hot Off the Press - Just keepin’ you in the loop

Teen Girls Report Record Levels of Sadness, C.D.C. Finds

Girls, as well as adolescents who identified as lesbian, gay or bisexual, reported high rates of sadness, suicidal thoughts and sexual violence.

How Teens Recovered From the ‘TikTok Tics’

As teenagers have resumed their pre-pandemic social lives, new cases of the tics have petered out. And doctors said that most of their tic patients had now recovered, illustrating the expansive potential for adolescent resilience.

Two Worsening Mental Health Issues for Teens

A national task force on mental health recently recommended that all children get screened for anxiety regardless of whether they have clinical anxiety disorder.

Feeling a little more in tune with your teen? Let us know what else you'd want to learn about :)

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