this is cbs news bay area with reed callan . >> it is meant to keep us all

connected and help us reach our loved ones and others, but associated with the constant information, messages and images too much for our kids? >> i have tried. it is hard putting the phone down and putting social media away, but i realize that was the biggest issue with my own self-esteem. >> the constant comparison like i'm not good enough and i'm not good enough. >> when the world went into lockdown, we all went to our screens. what were our kids and teens missing by looking down? >> part of the task of adolescence is to develop an identity and figure out who am i? that gets complicated when social media is your primary way of interacting in the road. >> our challenge is to look up and make their mental health our top priority. >> thank you for joining. i read callan. let's start this

podcast like we did today and the day before, love for our kids. we focus on this weeklong community conversation on the impacts and we are focusing on social media and the effects it has on our kids, my kids and your kids. a lot of kids facing mental health challenges due to social media and the overuse of it. after years of pandemic isolation, other factors, this is something that has taken its toll. is half hour, you will hear from teens and their parents and their experts as we look for ways forward, solutions to ending this crisis. here are the numbers for you. moms and dads and grandmas and grandpas, listen up, this took me back as well. our teenagers spend an average of eight hours a day looking at their phones. that's according to published information in the general pediatrics journals. the study shows sixth-graders pick up those funds between 100 and 400 times a day. the number one thing they look at is social media. >> i definitely see the link

between social media use and problems with insomnia sleep cycles, appetite, developing depression, developing eating disorders and i think the longer you are online, as a child or teenager, the greater chance there is to have these potential impairments. >> let's talk about tiktok. they say they have a new way to prevent teens from endlessly scrolling on there at. in the coming months, tiktok says ages of under 18 will default to a one-hour screen limit. we understand that can be turned off so kids can go right back to scrolling on tiktok. i have iran, a high school and work involved in mental health advocacy. did the numbers take you by surprise looking at the phone 100 to 400 times a day? >> yes, that's surprising. while you are looking at your phone 100 or 400 times a day,

you are not aware that that is the number of times it is happening. hearing the numbers is shocking. >> it has been important to us here at channel 5 on kpix 5 cbs bay area that we let our viewers hear from our kids. what is the impact of social media in your school hallways and at home during the homework hours? >> with social media, i think it has created a situation where we already felt a lot of academic pressure and social pressure, but with the addition of social media , you have the additional aspect where are you not only trying to be perfect when you are in person and in school, but when you leave school and when you are at school, you have the added expectation to be perfect on through an online presence. i think adding on these pressures has made more issues.

>> for the adults, what do you think a kid has to be worried about, but you are worried about scholarships and grades and all of the things coming down the pipeline. we live in a world that is sped up. you are saying the added pressure of social media, you said they will always feel like they are not good enough. is there a healthy way for people to interact on social media that you have found? >> i think there is. through the pandemic, there is this amazing set of social media where there is a sense of community and connectedness it could bring. first and foremost, i think people need to remember that things you see on social media are not always how they seem. >> they are engineered . >> exactly. you are seeing snippets of people's days and comparing yourself to them or feeling like this is what i need to measure up to. first and foremost by remembering that not everything as perfect

as it seems on social media. that can help lessen the pressure in a sense. >> what do you do ? it is important that our parents are here in the studio for these conversations. what has worked for you? do you reduce your time or a mantra you use when you start to feel the bad feelings? what do you do? >> for me, it is this way of framing things. it is tough at times when maybe you are at home at a certain time feeling like maybe i should be out with my friends and having these fun experiences that others seem to be having, but i'm sure everyone feels that way at a certain point. it is important to remember how you frame the situation. maybe next weekend, you will be the one out and about and with friends. >> help me as a bed, last question, how much should i

monitor my kids social media activity? is it possible to do it? your dad is smiling back there. >> coming as a parent, you should try to support your child as they go through all of these stages and high school. in terms of monitoring social media, i think . just having a sense that they are able to have a life and identity outside of what is being put online. all you can do is let them go through this experience coming from a can of course. >> and love them while they do it. i am a strong believer if we listen to our kids, they will lead us. i appreciate your leadership. i wish you a great and happy future and less social media. thank you so much. if you at home or someone you know is in a crisis or you feel like they need help, you can get the help from the suicide and crisis lifeline by calling or texting 988. hear candidly about our youth with

their struggles with mental health and social media and all the things that are pressures on our youngest citizens. we are bringing a powerful cbs documentary to you exclusively. gathered her family and get ready to have conversations. it is streaming tonight at 7:30 p.m. you can watch it for free on the cbs news app . still ahead, a difficult but sensitive subject, and the dire consequences of mental illness, taking one's own life. a

on this day facing young issues, we are breaking with news out of santa rosa. a 16-year-old student died after being stopped at a fight at montgomery high school. this information is coming from the santa rosa press democrat. they are close to the scene. reports has another 16-year-old was stabbed by survived and a 15-year-old was arrested. that school put on lockdown. you can see police there responding to parents and kids are coming out of the school. eventually, classes were canceled in the wake of this violence. we will keep you updated . that is a lesson, kids are experiencing a lot of difficulty right there at the school level. this week, we are addressing the problem with mental health crisis

attention. we are looking to the leaders of the cdc who found that 42% of high school students reported feeling persistent sadness and hopelessness , and they found thoughts of suicide are rising. sadly, too often those thoughts turn to action. we want to say right here as we go into this conversation that it might be difficult or triggering for some of you to watch or listen to. we want to give you the opportunity to take a deep breath because we will talk about the worst-case scenario right now. that happened to avery burton. look at avery. you look at him any day of the week and you would see a star athlete. you would know he was a straight a student, said and served his community and left his family, but all the while, avery was fighting an internal battle. id his dad is speaking out to help youth to address mental health. this is my friend reggie burton. we always talk with

difficult circumstances. after the loss of your son, you created the avery burton foundation and you will be in the bay area soon to help us lead a conversation about mental illness. talk to us about the impact of social media. that is what we have been talking about doing this show. >> first of all, it is good to be with you. thank you for having me be a part of this conversation. the loss of my son avery was difficult in the sense that it was unbelievable how quickly someone can go from things we associate with stress , anxiety, maybe some depression to suicidal ideation and suicidal attempts on their life and that is what happened with avery. in terms with the

social media impact you have been discussing on your show , i think that relates back to what we call as mental health advocates our triggers, things that propel or trigger someone emotionally to feel a certain way about different points in their life , as an example, an adolescent graduating from high school contemplating the next step to college or whatever is next in their life. that college graduate who graduates from college and then is faced with the difficult decisions around either more schooling for what is next with life. those are transitions that are often times difficult to manage for a young person just as well as adults. for adolescents, absolutely and

very difficult to manage and something we should keep an eye on. >> those transition points are points that we, as adults, need to be aware of. elementary to junior high is eight transition moment in junior to high school is transition in college into the real world, what can we do to help our kids in those transition moments aside from being mindful that we are in the season, better have our eyes and ears on this? >> i will keep it simple at the most recyclable, and that is communication. it is what we are doing right now, which is having a conversation. i have started my nonprofit, the avery burton foundation, which the sole purpose of educating families on what to look for because i believe we can do better when we know better. with that in mind, our nonprofit is involved with mental health first aid

training. i am a trained facilitator of mental health instruction, so i will be in the bay area march 23rd speaking to a group of santa clara optometric society about a 80 to 120 people about these topics and how they can help their patients and colleagues. >> i think what you have offered is valuable is to look at the transition periods. if we had more time, we would go into other things that are important. i will push some tips to you on social media handle, something that reggie gave to me that he wants to make sure you're aware of to help people who might be in crisis. reggie burton, you are my friend and brother. i send you my love. i'm thankful for what you have done. this is a precursor of what i will tweet out. i wish you well, i know all of your work is a letter to avery, and i'm proud of you. thank you so much. we will see

you in the bay area when you get here later this month. if you know somebody in a crisis, with help from the suicide in crisis lifeline. they have resources and tools, especially for transition periods for our young people. just call or text 988. we cannot afford to lose young more people in our world. two social media and your eyesight, how all the time spent on screen affects our physical and mental health through their eyes. san francisco's youth symphony is celebrating its 40th anniversary with a performance at davis symphony hall sunday at 2:00 p.m. oakland kicks off its own friday telegraph avenue. the art festival is celebrating women owned businesses for women's history month. the landmark emmy-winning series that took the world by storm is now in live concert events. this one night only at the san

jose center for the performing arts

will come by for this important committee conversation on mental health. we talked about how social media can affect our kids mental health and we are learning a part of that comes from how it affects their eyes.

joining me now is dr. jeanette lee, a bay area optometrist and when the pandemic hits, a lot of kids turned to their phones. what is the connection between social media, our eyes and mental health? >> adults and children increased 30 to 40%. everything was remote distance learning. they were online and the social part was online as well. any conversations, the amount of time in front of the computer and the phone, your brain grade drops 60%. just the fact that staring a long time causes dry eyes. i haveei to treat them. we were one of the few opened during the pandemic. it was fear of missing out, but the amount of time they spent on the phone, everyone's eyes got worse. the optometry road was myopia prevention. it got worse for a

lot of people. staring at your phone , you are staring at one orientation . imagine holding a weight in your hand and contracting more and more , people stay in that long space and the eyes will change and you will get more nearsighted. >> what is fascinating is the effects of looking at the screen, especially at night with sleep. sleep is important with mental health. talk to us about that. >> the self-care is huge. the mental health of staying online, once your brain is so active, it cannot shut down, but people go online. video watching, connecting with their loved ones or what's up , but all of the stuff online and video makes the eyes much worse and they have the radiation coming through bluelight. having the right filters important. without

ha they have a altered reality. if they are in that space constantly, they are not living today's life enti t in a different spacpati that ar depreskii ki during the pandem 19-year-old girl, i said how is the pandemic and what is going on? she said i'm about to have this nervous breakdown. this is a 9-year-old child. i said why do you say that? she said i don't like being at home. it is too much. she just wanted to see her friends. she said it is not the touch or feel, it just being around that feel. staying cooped up is difficult for people. now that everything has opened, it is better but people still felt isolation. so many patients who are more

home-based, not as social, they said even that was too much for them. they needed to get out. with eyes in social media and how they connect to the world, they were not in a mentally good space. when they don't feel good, they are depressed. something online is still detached and the nonverbal cues let's people know if you care. >> the human to human touch is important. we can talk to you for hours, thank you for your time.. these thoughts right now are fascinating to put that together, the connection between the eyes, the brain and our emotional selves. thank you so much dr. jeanette lee. to hear candidly about youth and their mental health, we are bringing a powerful document of the on our stream at 7:30. we follow breaking news out of santa rosa. we are talking

about difficulties teenagers face. minutes ago, police confirmed a 16-year-old student has died after being stabbed during a fight at montgomery high school. we don't know a lot of details, but police say another 16-year-old was stabbed but survived, and a 15-year-old has been arrested. >> our medical staff arrived on the scene and started treating the students and they were transported to a local hospital. unfortunately, one of the students, a 16-year-old male and a juvenile here at the monte campus, passed away at that hospital. >> as your kids on onto social media to learn about this case, maybe think about what you have learned during this show. the school was put on lockd

we want to leave it to solutions to improve the mental health of various. researchers at colorado college conducted a study with teenage girls and found three days off of social media, a three-day break, led to improvements in body image. >> i noticed after taking the break that it did not make me feel good. >> keeping myself busy and putting the phone down led me to feel better about myself and i saw it was worth it . >> what we showed that, statistically, that the reason

their body image improved was because of their self compassion. >> self compassion, students track their own social media youth. they wrote essays about it. they are removing the apps from their homes to be more conscious of their time and interaction on social media. coming up at 5:00, a special cbs documentary called connecting the dots featuring youth from around the world that struggle with mental health. brief confessions by these kiddos. find out what the filmmaker is urging all of us to do so we can have a better world. we have that and more with liz cook and ryan yamamoto coming up at 5:00. we continue our weeklong look at mental health at 3:00 tomorrow. for now, cbs evening news is next on kpix, local news continues on cbs news bay area. we thank you for tuning in to another day of important community conversations and love for our kids.

♪ ♪ >> norah: tonight, a dangerous week of weather, with the threat of tornadoes, hail scum at flash flooding in the south euro as the west coast digs out from a snow storm heading east. here are tonight's top headlines. ♪ ♪ that coast-to-coast winter storm turns deadly as snow continues to fall. >> most of the stores are out of supplies. >> roads are impossible to navigate. >> and breaking news, the fbi arrested a man accused of trying to hide explosives in his suitcase at a pennsylvania airport. >> dozens dead after a train crash in greece. >> a passenger train collided

with a cargo train. >> greece's deadliest train disaster in over 50