A message from Jeffrey Lewis, President & CEO, Legacy Health Endowment

We created “What You Should Know About Social Media — The Potential Risks for Children and Teens” to help parents, grandparents, and guardians better understand the warnings of the most popular social media apps. This guide includes advice on what steps you can take to protect your children’s mental health.

There may be a correlation between the increased use of social media and poor behavioral health.

Children and teens who use social media are at a higher risk of depression, anxiety, low self-esteem, and even suicide. For some, social media has become the catalyst for their social anxiety disorder.

The problem is that social media apps can lure children in and become addictive. Behavioral health challenges may worsen with more time spent on social media. The behavioral health challenge facing children and teens is a growing public health crisis. We created our guide as a basic information tool to help you better understand the world of social media, how it can affect your child, and what this may mean to their mental health.

If you have questions or comments, please feel free to reach out.

Jeffrey Lewis, President and CEO Legacy Health Endowment

jeffrey@legacyhealthendowment.org www.legacyhealthendowment.org