SPEAKER: S1
I'm Amanda, and I'm Far.
SPEAKER: S2
Welcome to Alone Together.
SPEAKER: S1
On this podcast, we'll be talking about things related to mental health for Gentiles, but especially the harmful influences of social media.
SPEAKER: S2
We're hoping to create a comfortable space so listeners know that it's okay not to be okay. For those of you who feel alone, let's come together.
SPEAKER: S1
Before we dive into her podcast series, we want to remind our audience that we strive to be transparent, and we also know that we're not in any way mental health professionals. By no means are we trying to give advice on mental health.
SPEAKER: S2
Our goal is to talk about issues and create a space where teens can feel comfortable about what they're going through and understand that everybody deals with mental health issues differently. What works for one person isn't going to work for someone else. And in this podcast, we'll talk more about this.
SPEAKER: S1
Amanda, Did you know who actually found that one in seven youth. Each 10 to 19 faced mental health issues. Sometimes these issues go untreated and are carried into adulthood.
SPEAKER: S2
I feel like this is why it's so important to have these conversations. Mental health is often regarded as this uncomfortable topic, but here we want to make it comfortable. And I think it's also important to recognize that everyone's experience is different.
SPEAKER: S1
Yeah, things are different for us now. Our generation is so consumed with technology and social media, which I think can really negatively impact mental health as there can be many harmful standards.
SPEAKER: S2
Social media plays a huge role in mental health for sure. Actually, there's a 2018 Stats Canada report that found 22.8% of teens who use social media aged between 15 and 19 reported feeling anxious or depressed. And honestly, sometimes it's hard for me to be happy with what I have when I see what others are posting. There's this whole unrealistic aspect of social media, and often you forget that sometimes people are only choosing to post the good, not the bad.
SPEAKER: S1
Yeah, I agree. Sometimes social media affects how much gratitude I express for myself. I feel bad when I can't wake up early in the morning or go for a jog or eat a healthy meal and be productive the whole day. Like some people on social media showcase their life. And then I go into this really bad circle of stress. This actually brings us to today's topic about how social media impacts teens mental health.
SPEAKER: S2
On this episode, we have guest Jamie Cabral coming on to talk to us about his own mental health journey and how he uses social media in a positive way, trying to create a safe space online. Hi, Jamie. We're so happy to have you here on our podcast Alone Together. Let's jump right in. Can you tell us a little about your personal story and if you feel comfortable enough to share your journey with mental health?
SPEAKER: S3
Yeah. So from a young age I had OCD, so I didn't really understand a whole lot about it. And as a whole stereotype, it just tends to be something that's like obsessive in nature. Like super clean, things like that. But that's really just like the tip of what actually what it actually is. It's really about obsessing over everything and overthinking lots of things. So although it's yeah, it stems from obsession and fixating on things, what happens as a byproduct is anxiety and depression. Because when you can't get these things out of your head and you can't decide what to think about, those negative things will weigh a lot more on you because not only are you experiencing them, but you're experiencing them over and over and over and over again. So yeah, when I was younger, I had more of the stereotypical OCD behaviors like the the things that you could see as a child. So like being super clean, like tapping rituals, whatever it may be, I was able to navigate through these compulsions. However, it became more difficult when my compulsions became more mental compulsions rather than physical. So to put that into context, like a mental like a physical compulsion, it's like, oh, to avoid this from happening, I'm going to tap the table, right? So it's very it's a thing that's neutralized by physical action, right? But when it's a mental thing, it's a little bit harder because people can't see it. And you're just always going through this cycle of neutralizing things in your head. So a lot of what OCD, too, is, is constant doubt and doubting pretty much everything. So even things that are absolute certainties, having a strong sense of doubt and having that overarching sense of doubt all the time. So when you have thoughts that are intrusive or harmful in nature, it's very difficult to get those out of your head so they become sticky. So that's one way to describe the patterns of OCD is just these intrusive things that are sticky. So so yeah, the main the main problems I had with it generally over my life was probably in high school. It was very challenging just because I wasn't really seen as someone who would struggle with mental health. Not that there's a portrait or a picture of someone who does, but it's just people. People recognize signs. So I was always someone who was very social and very outgoing, high energy, happy. So it wasn't really something that people really picked up on, especially because a lot of the distress I was going through was was in my head or was when I was at home or not when I was not with my friends. So what was distressing for me during that high school time was definitely not being able to focus on what I wanted to do. But then a lot of the stuff became more like more dark where it was like, Okay, if I don't do this, like my mom's going to die. And if I don't do this like this, something horrible is going to happen. This is going to happen. It's going to happen because of me. It's going to happen. So, yeah, that was very distressing because I had to like, figure out different ways to neutralize them. But yeah, I remember having these, like, troublesome thoughts, these worrisome thoughts, and I was always doing something to like, neutralize it and to make myself feel better in the short term. So I remember being like in the sixth or seventh grade and I was doing all these weird things like, we're in the middle of class. I would stand up and start, start walking around. I'd ask to leave, go to the bathroom. I would do like exercise and stuff because that always really help me anything. Baseball was a big release because it was always a sense of impending danger and it was always my actions or my thoughts that I would try to battle against.
SPEAKER: S2
So I know this is hard. So thank you for sharing your story. And I did just want to go back because you mentioned high school, even as a child experiencing this. So in high school, did you feel or did you have conversations about mental health or your own mental health with anybody? Did you feel it was somewhat hard to have these conversations, especially with friends or people who may not understand what you're going through?
SPEAKER: S3
Yeah, I found it especially difficult with well, being the person I was is like, I always want to just keep moving forward and keep going. So it was always something I didn't necessarily make time for because I always I never wanted to look back. So when I got out of the hospital for the third time, I was like, I'm never like having any experience like that again. Like I never want to feel that bad ever again. So whenever I had impending these impending feelings of just things that were difficult to deal with, I just didn't want to think about them because I'm like, That's not happening again. Like, I'm not going to let it happen again. So I kind of didn't accept any reality where that was something that was a possibility as me being in such a bad mental state that all these things are happening as a byproduct. I didn't want to accept that as a possibility, so I really just ignored literally everything that reminded me of it, which was also stressful because I literally had to like, abandon like a lot of things I liked. So like anything that reminded me of that time, I wouldn't associate with like, I wouldn't do. I wouldn't do anything even like friends I had at that time. Like, I didn't want to think about that and want to talk to them. Yeah. So that was a big thing for sure.
SPEAKER: S2
I definitely think there's this for some, this idea of avoidance. And then as you mentioned, you didn't want to talk to friends during this time. So there's that idea of being alone and and being isolated and having to deal with your feelings alone as well. So after having gone through this, why is mental health and the idea of mental wellness wellness so important to you?
SPEAKER: S3
Well, something that I can understand is very significant to to someone's life, right. Because it's easy to say like to look at someone's life objectively and be like, oh, this person has this. They must be happy. They have this. They look happy. Right? But the fact of the matter is, is like happiness is what you relate everything to, right? So if someone experiences some sort of loss, one person could look at it and say, Oh, that wasn't that big a loss. Right? But to that person, it might have been a lot more significant. Right. Because the significance in your relationships and the things you value all comes from your internal perspective. So how much value you put into the things in your life. Right. So something that might not be perceived as valuable to one person can be one person's entire existence, entire life. So that's why, like understanding people's priorities and perspectives is also difficult because it's hard to tell what someone really values. Yeah, so the reason the mental health stuff is so important to me is because I think it's something that everyone could deal with. You're going to have days where things are more difficult and you're not really understanding. So a lot of the times where I was actually like seeking more help is when it was becoming debilitating for me. And what I mean by debilitating is like I was unable to do the things that I wanted to do and that I had to do. So when I was getting into college, like, the way it became debilitating for me is I was so stressed and I was so worked up that I couldn't sleep, I couldn't do anything. And it manifested into baseball, whereas I was like overthinking literally everything. I hated going. So it was becoming very stressful because all of a sudden something I've loved doing my whole life I literally hate, right? So that's a sense where it becomes debilitating. So it just goes to show that you can have literally everything. And if your mental health isn't intact, your happiness is going to be sacrificed.
SPEAKER: S2
Yeah. And I feel like there's while there is a lot of resources out there and databases available in mental health, I feel like at the same time, especially for adolescent and younger populations, it's not talked about enough. There's not enough conversation internally happening whether that be within like family households or amongst friends. It's like a scary topic, if that makes sense. And then, as you mentioned, it may become harder for some to deal with situations because they never talked about it before or they don't understand what's going on. Yeah, which is essentially what we're talking about in this podcast. And so I also wanted to kind of go into your Instagram account and how you've been promoting exercise tips. You mentioned that's an outlet for you. And I know that you're also working on establishing a mental health page. So can you just tell me a bit about your account and what got you started in this?
SPEAKER: S3
Yeah, I agree with what you're saying about like mental health being something that's difficult to talk about, especially because it's something that can't really be quantified or measured because, for example, you have a broken leg. The x ray shows that your leg is broken, right? You know what you have to do to fix it. Whereas mental health, it's like you can't really tell from an outside perspective unless you're picking up on very key things. Right? Or talking to that person in depth. It's very hard to figure out from an outside source unless you know that person very well and you recognizing differences in the behavior in terms of the Instagram account. My ultimate goal was building a platform or building something of influence for impact. Right? So my my way to quantify how much I could impact and positively improve people's lives and people's wellbeing was through how many people I could reach. Right? So right away I started thinking about media because that's the way to maximize how many people I have access to and how many people I could influence positively. So fitness was kind of my specialty in the sense that it's something that I'm good at, something I'm very knowledgeable at, and it's something I can grow. So initially with the Instagram, I was trying to make it just very broad and very centered in on mental health and trying to teach and educate. So I kind of have to deconstruct and think, how can I get that huge platform where I have the opportunity to talk to this many people and to influence this many people? It's about deconstructing whether or not that thing that you're trying to build is worth building, right? So I only see something worth building if it's going to help people, if it's going to improve society, it's going to make people's lives better. So that's kind of my starting point. And now I'm I'm reversing that and thinking, how can I build that? How can I get something that's going to help people and change lives and build something great? And so really sampling it down and dialing into my niche, which is fitness. So really trying to grow within that space first and making a name for myself within the fitness community. And then, yeah, expanding on personal training, gyms, all that, building a name for myself in the personal fitness community and helping as many people as I can who are my clients and who are my followers. And yeah, if you if you take out from the entire structure, it's it's simple in the sense that I'm building something that is going to that people are going to value and that's going to help them.
SPEAKER: S2
Yeah, I know. I really appreciate that. When you came out with your platform, I saw that. I know now you've kind of moved towards more of your personal, personal training and fitness route, which is which is great too. I just want to ask, like, how can you ensure that you also meet an audience, let's say, who's struggle with mental health but cannot find an outlet through exercise because let's say what works for you may not work for someone else, right? So how can you ensure that you're kind of broadening that audience?
SPEAKER: S3
Well, that's the thing is when people attribute all of all of an outlet to one thing that becomes problematic, right? So fitness is definitely an outlet or an interest for me. So it's about finding things you like. So for me, like I, I like baseball, I like basketball, I like hanging out with my friends. I like, I like working out, I like reading comic books, like whatever it may be, those are things for me. And that's a form of self-care, is doing things that you enjoy. And then, yeah, taking other necessary steps, like taking advantage of relationships, like talking to your friends and family. When there's something you want to talk about, something you need to talk about making allocating time for yourself to relax and calm down. So things like things that I like to do are reading, journaling, listening, listening to music. So it's just about finding what works for you and really making time for yourself.
SPEAKER: S2
Yeah, exactly. Because there's also like, some of the resources will say if you're struggling, you can reach out here. But again, coming back to the idea of what works for one person may not work for someone else. So essentially, yeah, you're right. It's about finding what you enjoy and what makes you happy. And that's different and that's unique to everybody. Right. And I just wanted to ask you just to kind of circle back, why do you. Think mental health should be talked about more, especially amongst teens.
SPEAKER: S3
Because I think we're growing up in a different in a different era in the sense that we're experiencing things that people who are older than us don't necessarily understand. And what I mean by this is we're living in an era where. Our lives are actually a lot more complex and we're a lot more stimulated than before. Right? So take, for example, Instagram, social media. That was something that wasn't around 15, 20 years ago, right? So this has added a whole new level of complexion, a whole new level of identity that is keeping people stimulated, keeping people up at night, and really a source of anxiety, because when people are scrolling through media constantly, all they're seeing is mostly things that are not genuine and dishonest because people the reality of it is, is people are posting their best moments and how they want to be perceived, not their actual reality. So that could be tough if you're looking at that all day. And but if you're always looking above you at what you don't have, you're going to be miserable. Right. And that's kind of what social media is, is it's about showing off. It's about being flashy, it's about whatever. Right. So that can't be good when that's all people are thinking about.
SPEAKER: S2
There's also a lot of harmful kind of standards, like social standards that social media promotes and that whole idea of, yeah, it's unrealistic and people really only post the good. No one's ever going to post the bad or the struggle. So I really appreciate that you're using your platform to kind of help people out and show what works for you and what may work for other people. So I really appreciate that and I'm going to now turn it over to far. She's going to take over from here.
SPEAKER: S3
Okay.
SPEAKER: S1
So I just want to say thank you for sharing what you have thus far regarding your experience and everything. And I wanted to just take it back to your platform. And my question is regarding your impact on mental health in youth. What was the turning point to your success?
SPEAKER: S3
Honestly, don't think I've hit that success yet because I've been able to to grow in a linear way just because of the way the algorithm works and posting consistently. I'm going to go in the right direction, but I definitely haven't reached the level that I'm looking for yet in terms of outreach and in terms of how many people I could access. So that's really my ultimate goal is from a social media perspective alone, is to have a big, big network of following that I could spread positive information to and spread and educate things. And then beyond that, from a more business perspective and a more building perspective, I'd want to build businesses that can help people so the fitness is something I'm good at. So that's kind of my starting point, is building something within that fitness community. And then from there I would branch on to different things and dial more in directly to mental health and like.
SPEAKER: S1
Have you received feedback from your audiences? Maybe when it comes to comments or direct messages, has anyone shown that it has impacted them?
SPEAKER: S3
Yeah, it was. It was very rewarding when I first made the account because that first couple of weeks I was very excited to share and very passionate and I really didn't have a direction for it at time. Now obviously I have more of a plan and more of a structure. However, at that time it was really just about building something. It was more about a vision and kind of taking action towards that vision and making things happen. So within that first couple of weeks it was great because I had people that I hadn't talked to in five years, people I hadn't talked to ever that just knew of me from Vonn or from baseball or from whatever it may be that were telling me like, Hey, thank you. This is this is incredible. I appreciate this. So that was that was really big for me because just having people that are thanking you, that are appreciative and I'm like, wow, if I can do if I have people that I'm helping with 100 followers and 50 followers or however many I had earlier in the summer, I wasn't it wasn't a whole lot. And it still isn't a whole lot. But I was thinking like, imagine the impact I can make when I have 100 times that full 1000 times that following. Right? So that's really my my my goal is to continue to move in that linear direction and continue to grow.
SPEAKER: S1
I feel like that growth is amazing. Like you're saying, Oh, it's not that much, but I believe it's a lot like you're helping a lot of people. What did you expect when creating your platform in regards to like the mental health aspect?
SPEAKER: S3
My expectations were to get people thinking more openly because obviously mental health is one that's not talked about, right? So people kind of have a fear, like Amanda said, people have a fear almost talking about it, but bringing it up. So that was my ultimate goal is just getting people out of that hurdle shell where they're hiding or they're afraid to talk about it, getting them to a point where it's like, okay, it's okay to talk about, it's okay to talk about it, it's okay to deal with it, because as soon as you start talking about it and facing that as a fact that maybe my mental health isn't so great, maybe I need to work on this, then the sooner you actually start taking steps to work on it, Right? Because if you if you're in denial about it and you're not, you're like, I'm fine. I'm fine. I don't need anything. I don't need anything, then you're just going to keep feeling worse and worse and worse and you're not going to make any real progress.
SPEAKER: S1
Yeah, 100%. Like that's even what we're trying to get to. Where it's like mental health is not just this. It's not supposed to be taboo. It should be something that should be talked about. It should be something that people are aware of and comfortable enough to talk about in order to grow from that. Yeah. And how did you reach? Your audience through fitness specifically.
SPEAKER: S3
Yeah. So I was just posting based on what I have expertise in. So as an athlete, a former athlete, I have a lot of knowledge and training there and training to be an athlete and getting stronger and all that. So that's kind of where what I started with the aesthetics is something I also like to just the bodybuilding. I think it's fun. That's also been trendy the last few years and then just seeing how I can help people beyond beyond that. So just introducing different mental techniques like yoga, things like that, just any way that I could, that I could help. And then I've kind of just been throwing things at the wall and seeing what's working. The best metric for me to measure, I guess, is the is the views, right? So the things that are getting more views, I'm like, okay, what did I do there? That's working? And generally the answer for that has been short videos, broad appeal. So whereas before I was making these minute long videos where I, where I'm intensely talking about very specific things now, I've really, really simple it down to it's like, okay, this is what you're looking for, this is what I'm giving you. So just, just really simplifying and expanding to a broader audience to attract more people.
SPEAKER: S1
And lastly, I just want to ask, like everyone knows, a social media has been seen to affect adolescents mental health, usually negatively when it comes to social standards and stuff. But like with your experience, what do you think are the positives in using social media as a platform to bring awareness?
SPEAKER: S3
Well, just changing the culture of it, right, Because the problems that stem from it are typically Yeah, how people, how people use it. And it's to generally to create envy and to create jealousy. And and if we change that, to make it something that's more honest and something that's more. Like approachable, then I think that would solve a lot of the problems. The biggest issue I have with social media, beyond the things you touched on, is we talked about avoidance and that could be a very huge avoidance tactic. It's just scrolling because people don't want to think or they don't want to deal with things. They they scroll and they continue to scroll. And I think that's very tough with overstimulation, because now not only are you avoiding your problems and you constantly have access to avoid your problems because your phone is always with you, it's always there. Right. So not only are you always in a state of avoidance, but now you're also overstimulating your mind so much that you're scrolling and not even thinking about it. So now you don't have the energy to deal with your problems. You don't have the energy to do things on day to day tasks on a day to day basis. And that's why people are so tired in the way they have chronic fatigue and can't sleep. It all relates back to overstimulation.
SPEAKER: S1
I can definitely agree with that personally. It gets really hard to focus on your mental health when especially on social media, when there's like, like 100 things to look at, and then there's the bad and the good. And so, yeah, so I just want to thank you, Jamie, for taking the time today to talk to us about this important topic and sharing your experience on it. I really appreciate it. And I just want to ask if Amanda wanted to add anything.
SPEAKER: S2
I just want to say thank you for taking the time to talk to us on this podcast. We really appreciate it. And I know that it may not have been easy to talk about your past, but I appreciate that you're using social media in a good way and promoting a good things essentially. So yeah, Thank you so much for joining us.
SPEAKER: S3
No problem. It was it was good.
SPEAKER: S2
I think it's important that we recognize that Jamie's story is his own, and he uses exercise as a means to better his own mental health and shares these tips with others who also share the same interest in fitness. But this doesn't mean that fitness is for everyone. Again, it's really all about finding what works for you so far. What did you think about that conversation we had with Jamie? I mean.
SPEAKER: S1
He really made me think about social media and how it can be a benefit if you use it in the right way. There is this fear of being open about your mental health, and I feel like it's faced by a lot of people. And I learned that social media can also be a good outlet for you to be able to find like a comfortable space with people that are like you or going through things that you are. And I just learned to be kinder to myself and appreciate myself more.
SPEAKER: S2
I think it's also it was really refreshing to see social media being used in a positive way to help spread positivity. Again, it's coming back to this idea of seeing what others post and comparing to this can be really harmful. So I think it's important that these mental health conversations are brought onto social media and talked about there as well. That's a wrap on this week's episode. Thank you for listening to Alone Together. We are your hosts, Amanda and Farr.
SPEAKER: S1
We want to remind you that.
SPEAKER: S2
It's okay not to be okay.
SPEAKER: S1
We know this is hard stuff to talk about. We hope this episode has helped you if you're feeling alone.
SPEAKER: S2
But please, if you need help or are in crisis, you can contact kids. Help phone at one 800 6686868 or talk Suicide Canada at 18334564566.