When in December 1998, 20 year old Jed Satow died by suicide, his parents, Phil and Donna Satow, were not just devastated they were completely blindsided. His story was not unique—a student struggling with untold mental health issues that darkened his young life. In response, his parents dedicated themselves to preventing similar outcomes through the JED Foundation, founded in Jed’s memory in 2000. Their mission is to create cultural change by implementing mental health programs in schools and colleges across the U.S., fostering community intervention to combat precursors to suicide, such as depression and stress.
Fast-forward a quarter century, and life on a college campus is vastly different from the world Jed left behind. The taboo of discussing mental health has lifted, and the topic now dominates public discussion, regularly making headlines. The bad news is that this is often for all the wrong reasons.
The ‘Anxious Generation’
We now live amidst a mental health epidemic that has had a disproportionate impact on youth. We have become familiar with terms like the ‘anxious generation,’ popularized by social researcher Jean Twenge, and the New York Times bestselling book by Dr. Jonathan Haidt. This work highlights the alarming decline in youth mental health and pinpoints the problem to the palm of our hands – the psychological mayhem caused by mobile devices. Unconstrained smartphone use, Dr Haidt says, is “the largest uncontrolled experiment humanity has ever performed on its children.” One yielding highly worrisome results.
While critics argue this portrayal oversimplifies the complexity that is technology and culture, there is no denying something has gone terribly wrong for adolescents since the early 2010s. Data shows 42% of teens experience persistent feelings of sadness or hopelessness, an increase of 124% from 2016 to 2022. The suicide death rate has seen a significant increase in adolescents (48% increase) and young adults (39% increase) between 2011 and 2021. Self harm is also reaching crisis levels especially for young girls. In the decade to 2020 the number of emergency room visits for self-harm rose by 188% among teenage girls in the US Vs. 48% among boys.
A ‘JED’ Campus
So how does this changing reality around youth mental health fit into the work of the JED Foundation? Although the story of Jed Satow is entwined in the cultural realities of a world that once was, his parent’s persistence to reignite hope and belief in the hearts of struggling students has grown stronger with each passing year. The JED Foundation has grown from one family’s story of unfathomable sorrow to an organization that has helped over 1,200 schools, districts, campuses, and the lives of 6.5 million students (pre-K through high school and college) across America. More than 17% of students nationwide now attend a JED Campus or High School.
To mark World Mental Health Day (October 10th), I spoke to three female JED advocates, and JED Chief medical officer, Dr. Laura Erickson-Schroth about their views on this crisis. I asked what they would like to see change, and how their relationship with JED has created a meaningful impact.
A Mobile Misnomer?
The rise of mobile devices and the decline in mental health among today’s youth appear too closely linked to be coincidence, though precise data is limited. As Scott Galloway summarizes, we just need to look at the trajectory of the internet, to see the impacts. It went from a standalone resource, to a way of life via our phones, “the first did little to impact millennials. The second swallowed Gen Z whole.”
Teenagers now spend less time sleeping, exercising, and socializing in person, than any generation before, instead averaging 5 hours a day on social media. Life has shifted online, altering daily experiences and development. Yet, the larger question at play for the team at the JED foundation is why? And are phones a symptom or a cause of the problem?
For Clara Azadegan, a student at Rutgers University and a JED advocate, things are a lot more complicated. “I think that there’s kind of a misnomer with phones and social media,” she says, “I do think they are part of the problem, but I think that there’s more of an underlying issue that is a lack of community. The bigger topic is how we use digital tools, knowing they won’t go away. How can we help promote community for people who are struggling? It’s so much more complicated than just phones are bad.”
For Audrey Wang, a freshman at UC Berkeley, the recent push for state-wide cell phone bans in schools misses the mark. While she acknowledges phones can be distracting, she believes such bans can deepen dependence. “How we grow as young people and approach learning shapes our lives. We need to learn to set boundaries,” she explains. Rather than simply restricting access, she argues we must understand the roots of this dependence and help young people engage in real-life experiences together.
Mia Donohue, an NYU student, emphasizes that understanding young people’s realities is key to creating safer, more supportive spaces. “There are pros and cons to phone use, but when students sit alone on their phones at lunch, the issue is a lack of community and connection in the room. Simply removing phones won’t fix that issue. We need in-person conversations to build life skills and foster connections. The focus should be on how to create those opportunities.”
These three women are not in denial about the risks, causes, and correlation of social media and phone usage on mental health. Yet they also point out that these platforms and devices are going nowhere, with no apparent signs of progress in enacting meaningful regulations and policy change. Instead, they argue, we need to deal within the parameters of the possible. They believe that when we boil it down, the core of the problem is similar for students today as it was for Jed Satow – a culture of support and a community that knows how to respond.
The JED Approach
This is where the JED foundation has been instrumental in their lives and student experience, offering a plethora of mental health resources and programs to manage not just their own mental health but educate them in how to support those around them.
Mia shares an example of a recent program she completed called ‘Brave Talk,’ developed by Maybelline New York in partnership with The Jed Foundation. A free 90-minute training is designed to be delivered by college staff to students so that they have the skills to support peers who may be struggling and help connect them to care. She says, “Many students are afraid of calling a hotline; instead, their friends are their first responders. This taught me five steps I can easily remember, so if I have those conversations, I have a framework.”
For Dr. Laura Erickson-Schroth, Chief Medical Officer at the JED foundation, converting frameworks like this into a broad cultural shift on campuses and schools across the USA is the ultimate goal. With her extensive experience in psychiatric emergency rooms, she recognizes the urgent need for a dramatic correction to reduce suicidal risk. While acknowledging chronic online engagement, she advocates for realistic, community-focused solutions. “We must improve the experiences of young people,” she emphasizes, stressing the importance of thoughtful approaches. At JED, she collaborates with colleges, schools, parents, and educators to reevaluate mental health policies and interventions, prioritizing community support. Above all she wants to help communities help each other.
The work of the JED Foundation is an important reminder on the balance of idealism and reality. Advocates like Clara, Audrey, and Mia stress that we need to deal with the realities in front of us and foster supportive communities focused on open dialogue. While we can look to phones and social media and lament the interplay of technology on culture, in the absence of meaningful policy enactments, moral panic will do little to help the problem. The collective focus must remain on understanding student realities, empowering them to thrive both online and offline, and ensuring that the legacy of those like Jed Satow, is one of community and hope.