Have you ever heard of the term fighting fire with fire? Collin Kartchner took that method to heart when he decided to fight social media's influence on youth. At first, it started as just a parody account. Kartchner started making fun of typical "perfect" Instagram posts with his own account. His funny posts quickly gained a following. For a while, he simply enjoyed using humor to shed light on a bigger problem. Then, he had a wakeup call.

One day he talked with a woman he hadn't seen in ten years. He asked her how her daughter was doing and found out that her daughter had died.

“It all started when she said, ‘I (the mother) handed her a loaded gun when she was fourteen. I didn't realize it was a loaded gun.’” Kartchner replied, “Why would you give her a gun?” She said, “No it was a smartphone. I gave her access to the entire world. I let her just have free range on social media. And she got really depressed and she was really down and anxious. And she just kind of started spiraling. And ended up being … gone at around age 21."

Kartchner then decided to share that story on his Instagram account. Almost immediately he had thousands of messages pouring in from all over and from people of all different ages. Celebrities contacted him along with radio and TV hosts. He didn’t realize how big of problem social media was causing among so many people.

"I thought it was only effecting young married people or young moms with kids," he said.

After the realization that this technology was leading to suicides and destroying families, he decided to take his newfound fame and use it to help others. He started the #SavetheKids and #SavetheParents campaigns.

Now he travels each day to new areas to talk to parents, families, and educators about this issue he calls a disease. He is encouraging everyone to take their lives and their happiness back into their own hands.

So how do we fix the problem? He says it starts with setting the example as parents and adults.

“We have to do a lot of backpedaling and have some tough conversations,” he said. “Not just, ‘When is the appropriate age to give young people access to these platforms and this technology?’ But how do we as adults and how do we as parents fix the issue of modeling really bad behaviors for our kids? They’re very smart. They realize when we are being hypocritical. If we’re telling them to get off their phones when we’re always on ours,” Kartchner said.

Kartchner said the key is to start somewhere now.

In September of 2018 Kartchner had the opportunity to speak at TEDx in Salt Lake City. His short, but powerful address received a standing ovation. He has continued to spread his message through billboards that say, “You are beautiful.”

Kartchner will be in Rexburg Tuesday Jan. 8 to speak. He will speak at Madison High School. He will be speaking to students at 6 p.m. and parents at 7 p.m.

Here is the link to Kartchner's campaign website: https://savethekids.us/

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 Parents of Huntington Beach- Free Parent Night tonight! I’ll be speaking all morning at Dwyer Middle School and more school assemblies tomorrow. Bring your neighbors your spouse your sisters your puppers. Thank you Jen Morphy for making this all happen! Thanks to everyone who came to the fireside last night! See you at 6:30pm at HB High Auditorium. 

 Mental illness impacts 1 in 5 adults in the U.S., with the onset of 50 percent of lifelong mental illness cases happening between the ages of 10 and 14.
 

 Greg Hudnall is the founder and Executive Director of HOPE4UTAH. He has championed suicide prevention in Utah schools and communities for over 20 years. His expertise is not only sought after locally, but also nationally at the highest levels of government.
Dr. Gregory A. Hudnall is a former high school principal, student service director and associate superintendent with the Provo City School District. He has been involved with suicide prevention for the past twenty years and has personally been involved with over twenty-five suicides as a first responder or consultant.
Dr. Hudnall has years of personal experience in working with suicide prevention. He has spent the last fifteen years as the executive director of a community crisis team responding to suicides, and is in his 16th year as chairman of the Utah Suicide Prevention Conference in partnership with Brigham Young University.
Dr. Hudnall was invited to testify before the United States Surgeon General on suicide in Utah and in 2013 was invited by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to present in Washington D.C. on the Circles4HOPE community mental health model at the “Dialogue on Behavior Health and Community Resilience in LDS Communities.”
In 2015 Dr. Hudnall was invited by the Whitehouse to participate in a webinar entitled strengthening the mental health of African American  

SALT LAKE CITY — (KUTV) — Collin Kartchner recently lit a firestorm on social media and then completely withdrew from Instagram. That topic: How social media is destroying our kids.

Collin sat down with Kari, Brooke, and Caitlin to bring awareness to the problem and find out what's next for Kartchner.

Watch our segment with Collin above to learn more. You may also spot some new billboards along Interstate 15 that say things like "You are Loved," a direct result of Collin raising money to make a positive change.

If you or someone you know is struggling with depression, please visit hope4utah.com/hope-squad.

 This program qualifies for state funding under Utah H.B 154   

Available Now! 

Dr. Gregory Hudnall 

Published August 14, 2018

It takes a village to raise a child, and in the case of youth suicide, it takes an entire community to save one.In this much-needed book, Dr. Hudnall teaches risk factors and warning signs of suicide and how you can be a member of the Hope Squad.

In 2017, Collin started a popular parody Instagram account simply to make fun of social media and the culture of toxic perfectionism it has created. Instead of using his platform and large following to earn paid sponsor posts or fat stacks, he used his account to do good. 

​ In April 2018, Collin started a campaign to #SavetheKids from social media and screen addictions negative affect on their mental and emotional health. His message has resonated with the masses, as he has since spoke to 100,000+ youth and adults across the country, and was even invited to speak at TEDxSaltLakeCity in 2018, as well as for companies like Nike and Adidas. He has been interviewed for TV and newspapers on this topic many times, including Fox13, KUTV-2, KSL News, Fresh Living as well as articles in Salt Lake Tribune and authored articles for Deseret News.  

Today’s episode is an interview with a Utah husband and father of four who is passionate about helping our youth avoid the pitfalls of smart phones and social media when they are too young to navigate the turbulent waters of unfettered opinions about everything under the sun. He gained his popularity with parody videos aimed to poke fun at the perfectionism proliferated by social media and the way especially women let the highlight reels of others dictate how they feel about themselves and their lives.

In January, Collin learned about a young women he knew and adored who took her own life, because of social media bullying. He and his wife immediately sprung into action in attempts to educate parents of the dangers of smart phones and social media as handing our kids loaded weapons. I am 100% in support of his cause and hope you will all hear our call to action and fight with us.

You can find Collin on Instagram @collinkartchner. It’s never too late to take back control of our kids. It’s worth the fight, I promise!

Raised $100k’s for Hurricane Victims, Cancer Kids & You Are ❤️Billboards. Now we’re fighting social media. Speaking➡️heymichelle@SavetheKids.us TEDx⬇️m.youtube.com/watch?v=uMb0wqTqE_4 

Official account for the Lakota East High School Hope Squad!

ST. GEORGE — Snow Canyon High School is hosting a free “Save the Kids and Save the Parents” education night on Thursday to talk to parents about the impacts of social media and screen time on their teen’s safety and well-being.

The event will take place in the high school auditorium at 6 p.m. and will feature internet safety crusader Collin Kartchner, who has been using Instagram to spread awareness about the negative influence of social media on teens.

PLEASE SEE THE VAST OPTIONS FOR YOUR SCHOOL COMMITTEE TO PREPARE OPENING DATE CA SB 972 YEAR 2018 EFFECTIVE JULY,1ST 2019 LETS GO STRONG TO YOUTH SUICIDES. PROMOTE SOCIAL HUMAN CONNECTION LIMIT SCREEN TIME. SMART PHONES CAN BE TOXIC,HURTFUL, HARMFUL IF NOT USED SAFELY ACCORDING GREATER GOOD MAGAZINE.ORG UNDER EDUCATION SECTION, SEE MY WEBSITE UNDER  # 2 RESEARCH DOCUMENTATION TAB THERE YOU CAN DOWNLOAD CA STATE DEPT OF EDUCATION SEL NEWS LETTER. JAN,2019 VOLUME 19.

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 The heading of Article 2.5 (commencing with Section 215) of Chapter 2 of Part 1 of Division 1 of Title 1 of the Education Code is amended to read:

 Section 215.5 is added to the Education Code, to read:

 (a) Commencing July 1, 2019, a public school, including a charter school, or a private school, that serves pupils in any of grades 7 to 12, inclusive, and that issues pupil identification cards shall have printed on either side of the pupil identification cards the telephone number described in paragraph (1) and may have printed on either side of the pupil identification cards the telephone numbers described in paragraphs (2) and (3):(1) The telephone number for the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, 1-800-273-8255.(2) The Crisis Text Line, which can be accessed by texting HOME to 741741.(3) A local suicide prevention hotline telephone number.(b) Commencing July 1, 2019, a public or private institution of higher education that issues student identification cards shall have printed on either side of the student identification cards the telephone number described in paragraph (1) and may have printed on either side of the student identification cards the telephone numbers described in paragraphs (2), (3), and (4):(1) The telephone number for the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, 1-800-273-8255.(2) The Crisis Text Line, which can be accessed by texting HOME to 741741.(3) The campus police or security telephone number or, if the campus does not have a campus police or security telephone number, the local nonemergency telephone number.(4) A local suicide prevention hotline telephone number.(c) Notwithstanding subdivisions (a) and (b), if, as of January 1, 2019, a school subject to the requirements of subdivision (a), or a public or private institution of higher education subject to the requirements of subdivision (b), has a supply of unissued pupil or student identification cards that do not comply with the requirements of subdivision (a) or (b), as applicable, the school or the public or private institution of higher education shall issue those pupil or student identification cards until that supply is depleted.(d) Subdivisions (a) and (b) shall apply for a pupil or student identification card issued for the first time to a pupil or student, and to a pupil or student identification card issued to replace a damaged or lost pupil or student identification card. 

. n act to amend the heading of Article 2.5 (commencing with Section 215) of Chapter 2 of Part 1 of Division 1 of Title 1 of, and to add Section 215.5 to, the Education Code, relating to pupil and student health.
[ Approved by Governor  September 17, 2018. Filed with Secretary of State  September 17, 2018. ]

SB 972, Portantino. Pupil and student health: identification cards: suicide prevention hotline telephone numbers.Existing law, the California Suicide Prevention Act of 2000, authorizes the State Department of Health Care Services to establish and implement a suicide prevention, education, and gatekeeper program to reduce the severity, duration, and incidence of suicidal behaviors. The act authorizes the State Department of Health Care Services to contract with an outside agency to establish and implement a targeted public awareness and education campaign on suicide prevention and treatment, and requires that the target population include junior high and high school students.Existing law requires the governing board or body of a county office of education, school district, state special school, or charter school that serves pupils in grades 7 to 12, inclusive, to, before the beginning of the 2017–18 school year, adopt a policy on pupil suicide prevention, as specified, that specifically addresses the needs of high-risk groups. Existing law requires the Instructional Quality Commission to consider developing, and recommending for adoption by the State Board of Education, a distinct category on mental health instruction to educate pupils about all aspects of mental health, including, among other things, depression and suicidal thoughts and behaviors, as specified. Existing law requires the Superintendent of Public Instruction to send a notice to each middle school, junior high school, and high school that encourages each school to provide suicide prevention training to each school counselor, provides information on the availability of certain suicide prevention training curriculum, informs schools about certain suicide prevention training, and describes how a school might retain those services.This bill would require a public school, including a charter school, or a private school, that serves pupils in any of grades 7 to 12, inclusive, and that issues pupil identification cards to have printed on either side of the pupil identification cards the telephone number for the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, and would authorize those schools to have printed on either side of the pupil identification cards the Crisis Text Line and a local suicide prevention hotline telephone number. The bill would require a public or private institution of higher education that issues student identification cards to have printed on either side of the student identification cards the telephone number for the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, and would authorize the institution to have printed on either side of the student identification cards the Crisis Text Line, the campus police or security telephone number, or the local nonemergency telephone number, as provided, and a local suicide prevention hotline telephone number. The bill would require schools and public or private institutions of higher education subject to these requirements that have a supply of unissued, noncompliant identification cards as of January 1, 2019, to issue the noncompliant identification cards until that supply is depleted.