“Talk to your kids. Monitor their cell phone use, get their passwords, for your and their safety. If you child won’t let you see their cell phone, that’s a big, red flag. Bullying is a crime,” Hanson said.

Hanson talked about social media and its effects on children to more than 200 local and area school staff and mental health professionals at a South Central Minnesota Mental Health Conference at the Sleepy Eye Event Center.

“Challenge kids to get out one night a week with friends without cell phones. It’ll be an amazing experience. Research shows people spending lots of time on Facebook and other social media sites suffer from depression. It can destroy relationships and make life worse,” he added.

Hanson talked about what happens when people get too wound up in social media.

Staff photo by Fritz Busch Brown County Attorney Chuck Hanson urged parents to talk to their children and monitor their cell phone use at a South Central Minnesota Mental Health Conference at the Sleepy Eye Event Center Wednesday.

“Harvard researchers say getting a text message can release dopamine (a neurotransmitter and hormone part of many body functions including movement, mood, reward and more). It feels good like when people smoke and drink. Only cell phone have no age restriction like smoking and drinking,” he added.

Hanson said he has spoken about social media and its effects on children at Sleepy Eye Public School, Sleepy Eye St. Mary’s, Riverbend Area Learning Center, New Ulm Area Catholic Schools and Minnesota Valley Lutheran School. His talks feature information on online predators, cyber-bullying, solicitation, possession and dissemination of child pornography.

“I told kids to get rid of Instagram and Snapchat. Sex traffickers make online requests. Do you know who all your (social media) followers are? Many online friendships are superficial. When a teenager chats with someone online and agrees to hookup when them, it scares me. I tell kids to think before they send anything online, “ he added.

Hanson said online gaming is a big place for predators.

“Kids get so engrossed in it, they don’t know everything going on. Assume people are not who they say they are. Don’t assume things online remain private,” he added.

Hanson said pornographic solicitation, possession of it on a phone and disseminating (sending it out) are all felonies.

“Sexting (sending, receiving, or forwarding sexually explicit messages, photographs, or videos, primarily between mobile phones) becomes a crime when nude photos are sent. When you ask for photos like that from children, you are soliciting child porn,” Hanson said.

“Kids don’t understand this. It can get them in lots of trouble for the rest of their life. Some guys use nude photos of children like trading cards and ask for large amounts of money to keep them from being put online,” he added.

Licensed social worker Monica L. Yeadon talked about how to deal with an individual crisis.

She talked of her own recovery from borderline personality disorder and introduced a model she developed that helps individuals understand what can cause a crisis and strategies to avoid it.

“I lived with depression and anxiety while in college. I saw nine therapists and ghosted (stopped seeing) them. I thought of suicide. I drove to hospital emergency room in Red Wing and was transferred to St. Mary’s Hospital in Rochester, where I finally got the right diagnosis after seven years of improper diagnosis,” Yeadon said.

“Too often, the message people get is they will never get over it. A nurse told me it was good news because what I had was so treatable. I was in dialectical behavior therapy (DBT, structured psychotherapy designed to provide skills for managing intense emotions and negotiate social relationships) for 48 weeks,” she added.

Yeadon said after treatment, she felt like herself for the first time in years.

“I felt like seven years (of misdiagnosis) was stolen from my life. I researched it. I learned that the more emotional I got, the less I could use recovery skills. DBT saved my life in more ways than I can count. I learned that doing one thing, cross-stitching, gave me joy and was what worked for my daily mind-fullness,” she added.

Yeadon said the recovery program included using no mind-altering substances, balanced eating and sleeping and that realizing you can’t change the past brought her peace.

“I’ve been off medications since 2017 because I use recovery skills,” she added.

University of Minnesota Extension Farm Safety & Health Educator Emily Krekelberg said she grew up on a dairy farm near Le Sueur. She said the farm is operated by her father who lost a leg in 1972 and a brother who later lost an arm.

Krekelberg said farm operator suicide rates are more than three times the U.S. average.

“We want to interact with individuals before they become data. Many people need services for stressors. Forty percent of Minnesota farmers have at least one anxiety and depression symptom, most of which are untreated,” she added.

Krekelberg said most farmers want to solve mental health problems by themselves, think they’ll get better by themselves or don’t want to talk about their feelings, emotions or thoughts.

“Minnesota is the only state in the U.S. with so many mental health resources for farmers and rural people. Two ag mental health specialists, Ted Matthews and Monica McCloskey offer tele-health, video chats or they’ll come to you at no cost,” she added.

Krekelberg offered to visit FFA chapters to talk about youth programs. She can be emailed at krek0033@umn.edu. Call 612-756-3977.

The Minnesota Farm and Rural Helpline can be reached at 833-600-2610. Email farmstress@state.mn.us. For more information, visit https://extension.umn.edu/rural-stress.