March 28, 2025 • 34 mins
Von reflects on his 20-year journey with social media, discussing its evolution from MySpace to Instagram and the impact it has had on his mental health. He shares personal anecdotes about his experiences on various platforms, the challenges of navigating social media, and how his relationship with it has changed over the years. Von emphasizes the importance of being mindful of social media usage and recognizing it as a tool rather than a defining aspect of life.
Chapters
(00:00) Introduction to the Voncast and Social Media Journey
(01:50) The Evolution of Social Media: From MySpace to Instagram
(12:05) The Impact of Social Media on Mental Health
(19:12) Navigating the Challenges of Social Media
(25:33) Reflections on Social Media's Role in Life
(31:08) Conclusion: A 20-Year Relationship with Social Media
Follow Me on Social Media:
https://www.instagram.com/thevoncastshow/
https://www.instagram.com/shibavon/
https://www.iamvon.net/
Chapters
(00:00) Introduction to the Voncast and Social Media Journey
(01:50) The Evolution of Social Media: From MySpace to Instagram
(12:05) The Impact of Social Media on Mental Health
(19:12) Navigating the Challenges of Social Media
(25:33) Reflections on Social Media's Role in Life
(31:08) Conclusion: A 20-Year Relationship with Social Media
Follow Me on Social Media:
https://www.instagram.com/thevoncastshow/
https://www.instagram.com/shibavon/
https://www.iamvon.net/
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Hey there! My name is Vaughn and this is the Vaughncast Show. This is a podcast that focuses on
(00:08):
meant to help breaking societal stigmas, harm reduction, addiction and recovery. If you like what
you hear, subscribe and leave a review on Spotify and Apple Podcasts. Also, follow the podcast
Instagram @thevoncastshow where I post video content from the show. All right, let's get into today's
(00:34):
episode. Hey there! Welcome to the Vaughncast Show. I'm your host Vaughn. Hope y'all are doing well
today. Happy Friday. I think this week will be the last week that I do my podcasts on Friday
as I'm releasing them. I want to give Monday a shot because I feel like, I don't know, I always
(01:03):
looking back or looking at my podcast habits. I always like listening to podcasts to drop on a Monday
because it's something to kind of help me get through the beginning of the week.
And I'm thinking, what if I do that for my podcast? It's always been a Friday for the most part.
(01:25):
I think I used to drop it random days throughout the week, years ago, the beginning, and then I set to
Friday. And then I'm gonna give Monday a shot and see if that works a little better for the listeners
for y'all. So, give this that a shot and see how it goes. So, today is an episode about my
(01:53):
relationship with social media. I've been on social media, I'm gonna pull out a calculator right now
because I'm so bad at math. Okay, so social media essentially is just an online application,
whether it's on your phone or a computer that connects you with different people,
(02:16):
either people you know, people you don't. I don't consider aim.
Online, American online is nothing, so social media is like a, it's like a,
bit of chat with your friends. So, and with Zanga, now that's a blog, these are, I'm going way back.
(02:38):
So, I think I started out of my space in
2000 and was it? I'm gonna say 2005. Okay, it's two, oh my gosh, it's obvious to say 25,
minus stop, I'm bad at math. 20 years, I've been on social media for 20 years
(03:04):
with different platforms. That's a long time. That's a trip. I did a calculation right now.
20 years, I've been on social media. It brings back memories, good and bad.
But over those 20 years, ah man, I feel like, fucking old man, over those 20 years, I'm noticing
(03:28):
I'm being on a less and less. And tell you why, draw this podcast episode.
I remember when my space first came out, that was a big thing.
You got to see what your friends were doing. You got to see their status updates,
(03:51):
how they're feeling. See their pictures, right? You network in that sense and I met some
cool people on my space in person and just online strictly.
And that was, I think, like, wow, this is so cool. Nothing like this has ever been done before.
And, ah man, looking back, I would just be on it, being super emo, super seen with the bangs
(04:20):
and everything and showing hanging out friends, getting drunk and posting like,
statuses and my, my space, my my space songs would be usually like, I don't know how it's
feeling obviously at the time, going through a breakup or like in a girl or just wanting to party.
(04:40):
So it would, it would vary, right? And it was just some different. And again, you have to see
what your other friends were posting about. You saw like the sub tweets, the subliminal,
you know, messages and whatnot. That was pretty, pretty funny, pretty cool, a lot of drama.
(05:02):
And yeah, I was posting like everything I was doing.
Partying, it was a cool way to meet women for me. I say that, you know, my space was like
the real dating app, you know, before there was a dating app. And then Facebook came around.
(05:25):
At first, it was just an E.D.U. As in you had to have a E.D.U. account, email account to get Facebook.
So it was only for students, and for universities. I remember seeing it at first. I remember thinking,
"Now this is wack. This is so sterile compared to my space." Because my space, you got to
(05:51):
design your own layout, background, HTML, all that. You have to put in music. You have to change
around the font size, the font type. You were able to hide the comments
on my space. And Facebook was just very sterile. But I mean what that is. You had none of those options.
(06:17):
It looked very generic. It looked bland. And I was like, "Why would somebody want to be on this?
This is so wack. It's so professional." I'm not linked in or something.
But yeah, so I think Facebook came around like around the same time I got into my space,
(06:39):
but Facebook was just, it was whatever. You know, like Facebook, I think,
yeah, it wasn't big at the time. Again, it was very just for students only.
And then over time it became more accessible so anybody could get Facebook and man.
(07:00):
Yeah, it was very similar in that sense where you can see what your friends were doing. You can post
what you're up to, show pictures, upload pictures, get to know people, networking. It just without all the extra stuff.
And again, being young, I remember posting just a bunch of statuses. Some I should not have posted
(07:24):
because I was under the influence for sure. Really emo ones. I wanted to be like, "This guy's on one."
But yeah, I found myself really like just posting I felt without filter for the most part. Even sometimes
you were like, "Yo, that status is out there." Right? And then, you know, I'm always on social media and then
(07:50):
Instagram came around and I'd say like, for me, I got into a 2013, 2011, 2013. I remember opening up
Instagram back then and not knowing how to use it. I'm like, "What is this?" This was the first app for me
(08:13):
where it was a strictly phone app that this wasn't a laptop app. I was talking to you, downloading
your computer, a laptop. This is strictly for a phone with a camera. And to me, that was still
relatively new thing. And so, I didn't even know how to operate it. I'm like, "What am I supposed to do
(08:36):
just take pictures of stuff and post it?" That was very foreign to me. And this is around the same time
I got Twitter and around that same time, I still didn't really know how to use it. And yeah,
posting stuff again, posting. I remember posting the food stuff. That was big. Everybody was
(08:56):
a foodie at one point, right? Even I was just posting pictures of food, making it look really cool.
All that stuff. And, you know, I'm still on Facebook. My space obviously is not
there anymore. It still is, but it's not what it was. And Facebook just became the main
(09:20):
Facebook and Instagram became the main social media platforms for me. Again, just posting
away. You know, I was posted pictures when I was hanging out with friends, posting pictures of what I ate,
all that stuff. And these social media platforms became useful for me, especially because
(09:47):
I make music and podcasts. So, these were the avenues of how people could find me.
My relationship with social media so far, it's been great. It's just become like this essential thing.
I got to check my phone, got to check my, you know, computer when it was back then. Back
(10:12):
on my space, you, you know, it wasn't on a smartphone. You're on my space really in the morning
before you went to school. And then when you got home from school, you check my space, right? For messages,
comments, likes, or messages and comments. I think there was likes. I remember a funny story
(10:37):
with my space. This was in 2005, 2006. Our computers in high school. My space wasn't blocked. You
could go on my space, right? But then in computer class, someone was on my space. And back then,
(10:59):
there would be an indicator whether you're online on my space. I think on your profile would say
online now. A mom saw that their child was on my space and she was upset. She called this school
and said, why is my kid on my space while he, while they're in class. And because of that,
(11:25):
my space was blocked from computers. What a bummer. And we got to find a way around it. I don't know
how we found out, but there was a site you can go on that would let you go on my space. It was like
this bypass, right? Way to bypass like the, the computers system. I also remember playing,
(11:53):
I remember playing Doom a lot. And back then. So I remember playing a lot of Doom on
on computer class. So shots out to that teacher. Thank you for letting us do that. So
(12:18):
fast forward, you know, back to more present times. I was still using Facebook heavily. I got into a
pretty heavily like 2018 started joining a bunch of groups and became super active. I met a lot of
friends online and I just became on on active on Facebook more and more. I think because
(12:44):
like I didn't see, I don't know, I just Facebook and Instagram just was popping, right? Facebook and
Instagram, there were no like huge algorithm changes. Nothing super major. You can still post and a
lot of people would still would see your stuff. And then, you know, the okay, let me go back. Let me
(13:08):
go back. I'm sorry. Yeah. So again, Facebook, Instagram still popping. And then I remember using it so
much more during the pandemic. For abuse reasons, right? You're locked down, quarantine, you really
couldn't get out the house and Facebook and Instagram, Twitter, it became this way to connect with people.
(13:35):
It was a great tool for that because you're going to go out to your friends in real life.
And zoom was popping for a bit. I remember attending zoom parties. At the time, my internet was not
the greatest. So my connection was always lagging. So I had to opt out for just the audio only.
(14:01):
So that was big. And I was honored all the time. And I remember I would get, you know, into arguments
like everybody did with people on social media, make, you know, meme wars. Those were fun. And made
some good friends or some drama, obviously. So that was just the thing, right? Social media just
(14:28):
became the second nature thing that you would do in your spare time or anytime became a dictating, right?
And then I noticed the algorithm changing little by little where kind of had to like
to in order for the engagement to be the same. You had to pay for Instagram, Facebook,
(14:57):
right to promote your ad or your post because algorithm was changing to where paid posts, sponsored
posts were getting more visibility than regular posts. So I started noticing that. And obviously,
I didn't, I didn't pay for these services. I didn't want to twice like boost like views,
(15:22):
but it didn't do much for me personally. And then I don't know, I just started noticing over time,
little by little, wow, how much social media can affect my mood. And obviously over these 20 years,
(15:48):
studies have been showing how detrimental social media can be for your mental health. Yes,
there's a lot of positive things about social media, networking, connecting with like-minded people,
some people meet their partners on social media. So it's a great way to
(16:14):
interact with people. Definitely also a bad aspect of that where there's bullying, harassment,
doxing, that type of stuff in social media. And yeah, so I just started noticing that man,
you know, I find myself comparing to other people making like man, they really have a good life,
(16:42):
my life sucks type of stuff or thinking like damn, my content's my grade because I don't get this
sort of that many likes, you know. And more than one occasion, I found myself consumed in
petty Facebook, Instagram drama, you know, I'd recommence and from a group post, from like
(17:04):
our Facebook group, for any social media platform, and it would just fuck my day up, right. And
me, for my speaking for myself, I like to hyper-fixate on things, thoughts, just ideas, and a lot of
(17:25):
times I find myself just getting upset by thinking of the same horrible comment over and over.
And I realize how much of an impact it had on my mental health. I get so anxious, you know,
or just be so caught up in some Facebook argument, a petty one, just it's just going back and forth,
(17:52):
back and forth, and I would just be so stressed out and so anxious arguing with random people
that I don't know and I'll never know outside of social media. And I was realizing like man,
(18:13):
this is really taking a toll on you, you know. I will say when I was
back then I didn't really think about it much because I was under the influence most of the time.
So like, yeah, it upset me, but you know, the drugs picked me back up.
(18:34):
It didn't really bother me as much as it does now. These days, I notice, yeah, it does,
it does affect me to be honest. And you know, I know social media is like engineered for people to
(18:55):
always be on it and there's that side of it. But now there's, I also think about, you know,
I kind of a role to play in this because of how often I'm on social media. I'm on a lot.
When I look at my screen time, I'm like dude, really? That was a long time. That's a lot of time on social media.
(19:19):
And the trippy part is, I don't even realize it. I'm so hooked onto it.
I remember how I would see friends slowly be less active on social media or they delete their account.
Now I was like, wow, that's trippy. Like what do I know what happened?
(19:42):
You know, or like, why'd you stop posting so much? And now I kind of see it.
Oftentimes, they realized the same thing I did, but a lot earlier,
and maybe it's not as good for their health mentally. Or they just have other hobbies.
They're realizing that maybe social media being on all the time is in great for me.
(20:05):
And also, they're getting a little more older. Like now, I don't post as much stuff out there like I used to.
I used to be really out there just posting home, feeling what I'm thinking.
Just and just dissing people on like, statuses, like 10, 15 years ago, just, you know,
(20:31):
calling people out without actually tagging them in there, you know.
And now I'm just more like, you know, yeah, that upsets me. But I'm not going to make a stink over it.
One thing I'm realizing now is that turn rage bait where people on purpose host something in
(20:53):
flammatory or you're subsetting, so they can get people to react. This is like a thing I never really
realized it happened until like a few years back. And I used to get so swept up and, you know,
man, what the fuck is this person thinking when you fucking out your mind, blah blah blah,
(21:14):
this is now you're tripping. And I get so exhausted after those, I'd always check
the comments, see, oh, I'll back to somebody roasted this person. I'm gonna keep looking at this
person, the comments and see how badly this person gets roasted kind of thing.
And I'm learning now that even just by like commenting, I'm contributing to something I don't like.
(21:49):
It's not same people that should in comment on things they don't like, but just excessive stuff
when you get so fixated on it, it's not good for me at least. Like, yeah, if you disagree with something
cool, post, I mean, a lot of times it isn't necessarily comment, but just that has to be a balance,
you know, for me at least. I just find myself getting so stuck in it, getting so upset.
(22:17):
And now I'm just like, man, I don't know if this person is woefully ignorant and just naive,
are they're purposely saying stuff that's like fucked up so they can get more engagement and go viral.
That's another thing. And going viral, right? Back then I was like funny cat videos.
(22:39):
Still is, but now it's just people doing silly things or saying things. They're just,
you know, fucked up that like they go viral for it. And we've seen it in media in different aspects
that potentially any attention is good attention or any type of like
(23:01):
attention, press, good or bad is good because your your name gets
it like your name just pops up more and algorithm and it shows up. And I think social media rewards that
right. And I think it's great if it's like something good, something, you know, but when it's just
(23:31):
people saying stuff to go viral on purpose, it's just it's not, I don't know, it doesn't click with
me, it doesn't resonate. And here I am 20 years into social media. I still use it. I'm not going to lie.
I don't see myself like deleting my social media accounts, but it's just different now.
(23:57):
See it. I see so many things that upset me. I'm pretty sure that's also, you know, algorithm
right now. So I have to side like, okay, so you see keep seeing things that upset you.
I got to kind of dial back and mic and such an social media. I'm pretty sure I've said in
(24:18):
previous episodes that when I'm bored, I'm set when I'm just I don't know. There's not in a good
mood that I should not scroll on social media because when I do, it makes me more upset for the most part.
So my relationship with social media just went from just posting whatever, whenever,
(24:49):
right. And over those over that time over 20 years, I guess I've seen myself kind of just
scaled back and say, well, okay, before I post this, like, why am I posting this?
Why the right mindset? Like, is this here a perversely like, upset somebody? Is this, you know,
(25:10):
that kind of stuff. You know, I suppose memes so much and making them all the time. But
I did a lot for like a few years. But now it's like, you know, now it's fine. It's just like,
I don't know. I feel like I'm redirecting my energy to different places. You know,
and I'm just on social media less. And it's been great. I feel like I kind of have to be,
(25:40):
I don't have to be on social media. But because I'm doing podcasting because I'm doing music,
it's a great tool. Posting me as a tool. It's a great tool to use to, for people to check out what you're
doing. So I make the reels on Instagram. I don't really use TikTok. I try it for a little while,
(26:04):
but I just, it's not my thing. It's something I realize it. Hey, I think it's great. I think
it's beneficial for a lot of people, not for me. I use threads back in the day like when it first came
out for a little bit. And I can tell you like, it was great. I got so many guests off threads.
(26:31):
Got my therapist off threads. But I don't know. Again, I just started seeing more stuff. I just like,
kind of like room, I moved, you know, I mean, it's not, you know, like I'm not trying to show
away from all the fucked up shit. There's a lot of fucked up shit going on, but it's just the amount of
(26:52):
it. I was like, bro, I can't, I can't process this. You know, I used to be back then. I don't know.
I just can't, I mean, maybe I can't, I just, but I'm realizing how taxing it is to process all the
fucked up shit going on. Like I'm tired. I just, you know, I'm learning that I got to be mindful of
(27:17):
scrolling on social media in the morning. Right when I wake up, I do it. Alarm goes off.
Sometimes I purposely go on my phone just to wake up because that blue light does keep you up.
So I do that. But 20 years in, man, I've seen social media change. I feel like it's a lot different than
(27:43):
it was. Or maybe because I've been on 20 years and I'm a little jaded. It's not what it was for me.
Somebody who just got into it five, 10, 15 years ago made a different opinion.
But yeah, you know, I've been posting so much on Instagram against loaded down. It's kind of like why
(28:06):
my posting just to stay relevant on the algorithm.
Like, do I have to just keep thinking of things to post just to stay again relevant on social media
thinking of like trends and all this stuff. And I could do that. That's great. I mean, maybe I should,
you know, but how I'm just fucking tired dog. It's my age, man, but
(28:30):
a lot of times I'm just like fuck dude. I don't really want to do this. Like, I don't really want to post
like I used to. You know, I also, maybe I feel discouraged because the likes are in there. I feel like
a lot of times it's the motivation for you know, I still do it for the, you know, just they,
the posts to just see what I'm doing in terms of podcasting and music.
(28:54):
But now I feel like I always had to do it, right? I always had to do this. But as I'm getting older
and longer been on social media, it's like, do I really have to? Do I really have to do that?
No, man, you'll take a break. You'll go play some video games. You'll take a nap, dude.
Because again, just being on social media for a long time,
(29:22):
it's definitely a, had great impact, you know, for myself. I don't knock social media for that.
I've had great interactions on social media. I've met great friends on social media that I'm
friends with in real life now. And great networking tool, right? But it's also contributed to
(29:44):
a lot of my anxiety, a lot of my frustration, a lot of comparing the comparison game.
It's so easy and kind of unavoidable almost to do now in social media that when I do do that,
I got to check myself and think, man, all we're seeing is this person's highlight reel, just like
(30:04):
they're seeing yours. You know, their success does not have anything to do with yours. Now people can
both, you can be successful as well as just different metrics on how you view success, you know.
So yeah, these days, I'm on it still, you know, I don't really do the Facebook groups anymore,
(30:29):
not as much keeping in touch with close friends, send memes, post stories. But I'm learning now that,
again, social media is a tool. It's not life. I think back then, social media was like life for me,
right? It would just be second nature to always just post stuff, take pictures and post it.
(30:57):
I don't even really like do that as much. But yeah, it's a tool in not life. Can't imagine how it is
for the younger generation than they were born into social media. I think my generation was like
the last generation where social media became a thing when you were in your late teens.
(31:25):
And I remember having a childhood without social media. And being born into it, having, you know,
I can't imagine what it's like. Probably so much different, so much more difficult. Can't
imagine what high school is like now, middle school is like now, elementary school, all that shit, you know.
(31:48):
So yeah, that's this week's episode. I'm grateful for social media so you can see this. It's a great
way for me to connect with people that like my content, music, my podcast, all that stuff.
(32:08):
But I'm just seeing myself like slowly distancing away from it and posting only one I have to.
It's a great way to keep in touch with friends. But it's just for me it's not the same.
20-year relationship of social media, man. That's a trip.
(32:34):
Like again, the calculation earlier, 20 years, man, I've checked my phone or my computer,
get those messages, those comments, those likes, it's wild. So now I can see why people deactivate
their social media. Take social media breaks or just have it and just not really check, you know.
(33:03):
Because it is, it can be anxiety, inducing, overwhelming, you know, seeing all those things.
And I don't know, again, our brain isn't, I don't think it's made to process all this information
at once. It's not made to process what everyone's thinking and what's scrolling on Twitter or whatever
(33:24):
you'd see when everyone's thinking at the same time. I don't know, for me it was more bearable.
Again, back then because I was under influence and that kind of numbs you for a bit. But now I'm not,
I'm like fuck, man, this is intense. So that is today's episode. Thank you for listening. Thank you
for tuning in. Shout out to the people using MySpace as day one. That was, that was the era, right?
(33:52):
So for a while, moving forward, I think I'm going to start posting episodes on Monday and see how the
engagement is. And go from there. So I have a good rest of your Friday and your weekend and take care
and see you not this Monday, but the next Monday. Take care.
(34:17):
[BLANK_AUDIO]
Hey there! My name is Vaughn and this is the Vaughncast Show. This is a podcast that focuses on
(00:08):
meant to help breaking societal stigmas, harm reduction, addiction and recovery. If you like what
you hear, subscribe and leave a review on Spotify and Apple Podcasts. Also, follow the podcast
Instagram @thevoncastshow where I post video content from the show. All right, let's get into today's
(00:34):
episode. Hey there! Welcome to the Vaughncast Show. I'm your host Vaughn. Hope y'all are doing well
today. Happy Friday. I think this week will be the last week that I do my podcasts on Friday
as I'm releasing them. I want to give Monday a shot because I feel like, I don't know, I always
(01:03):
looking back or looking at my podcast habits. I always like listening to podcasts to drop on a Monday
because it's something to kind of help me get through the beginning of the week.
And I'm thinking, what if I do that for my podcast? It's always been a Friday for the most part.
(01:25):
I think I used to drop it random days throughout the week, years ago, the beginning, and then I set to
Friday. And then I'm gonna give Monday a shot and see if that works a little better for the listeners
for y'all. So, give this that a shot and see how it goes. So, today is an episode about my
(01:53):
relationship with social media. I've been on social media, I'm gonna pull out a calculator right now
because I'm so bad at math. Okay, so social media essentially is just an online application,
whether it's on your phone or a computer that connects you with different people,
(02:16):
either people you know, people you don't. I don't consider aim.
Online, American online is nothing, so social media is like a, it's like a,
bit of chat with your friends. So, and with Zanga, now that's a blog, these are, I'm going way back.
(02:38):
So, I think I started out of my space in
2000 and was it? I'm gonna say 2005. Okay, it's two, oh my gosh, it's obvious to say 25,
minus stop, I'm bad at math. 20 years, I've been on social media for 20 years
(03:04):
with different platforms. That's a long time. That's a trip. I did a calculation right now.
20 years, I've been on social media. It brings back memories, good and bad.
But over those 20 years, ah man, I feel like, fucking old man, over those 20 years, I'm noticing
(03:28):
I'm being on a less and less. And tell you why, draw this podcast episode.
I remember when my space first came out, that was a big thing.
You got to see what your friends were doing. You got to see their status updates,
(03:51):
how they're feeling. See their pictures, right? You network in that sense and I met some
cool people on my space in person and just online strictly.
And that was, I think, like, wow, this is so cool. Nothing like this has ever been done before.
And, ah man, looking back, I would just be on it, being super emo, super seen with the bangs
(04:20):
and everything and showing hanging out friends, getting drunk and posting like,
statuses and my, my space, my my space songs would be usually like, I don't know how it's
feeling obviously at the time, going through a breakup or like in a girl or just wanting to party.
(04:40):
So it would, it would vary, right? And it was just some different. And again, you have to see
what your other friends were posting about. You saw like the sub tweets, the subliminal,
you know, messages and whatnot. That was pretty, pretty funny, pretty cool, a lot of drama.
(05:02):
And yeah, I was posting like everything I was doing.
Partying, it was a cool way to meet women for me. I say that, you know, my space was like
the real dating app, you know, before there was a dating app. And then Facebook came around.
(05:25):
At first, it was just an E.D.U. As in you had to have a E.D.U. account, email account to get Facebook.
So it was only for students, and for universities. I remember seeing it at first. I remember thinking,
"Now this is wack. This is so sterile compared to my space." Because my space, you got to
(05:51):
design your own layout, background, HTML, all that. You have to put in music. You have to change
around the font size, the font type. You were able to hide the comments
on my space. And Facebook was just very sterile. But I mean what that is. You had none of those options.
(06:17):
It looked very generic. It looked bland. And I was like, "Why would somebody want to be on this?
This is so wack. It's so professional." I'm not linked in or something.
But yeah, so I think Facebook came around like around the same time I got into my space,
(06:39):
but Facebook was just, it was whatever. You know, like Facebook, I think,
yeah, it wasn't big at the time. Again, it was very just for students only.
And then over time it became more accessible so anybody could get Facebook and man.
(07:00):
Yeah, it was very similar in that sense where you can see what your friends were doing. You can post
what you're up to, show pictures, upload pictures, get to know people, networking. It just without all the extra stuff.
And again, being young, I remember posting just a bunch of statuses. Some I should not have posted
(07:24):
because I was under the influence for sure. Really emo ones. I wanted to be like, "This guy's on one."
But yeah, I found myself really like just posting I felt without filter for the most part. Even sometimes
you were like, "Yo, that status is out there." Right? And then, you know, I'm always on social media and then
(07:50):
Instagram came around and I'd say like, for me, I got into a 2013, 2011, 2013. I remember opening up
Instagram back then and not knowing how to use it. I'm like, "What is this?" This was the first app for me
(08:13):
where it was a strictly phone app that this wasn't a laptop app. I was talking to you, downloading
your computer, a laptop. This is strictly for a phone with a camera. And to me, that was still
relatively new thing. And so, I didn't even know how to operate it. I'm like, "What am I supposed to do
(08:36):
just take pictures of stuff and post it?" That was very foreign to me. And this is around the same time
I got Twitter and around that same time, I still didn't really know how to use it. And yeah,
posting stuff again, posting. I remember posting the food stuff. That was big. Everybody was
(08:56):
a foodie at one point, right? Even I was just posting pictures of food, making it look really cool.
All that stuff. And, you know, I'm still on Facebook. My space obviously is not
there anymore. It still is, but it's not what it was. And Facebook just became the main
(09:20):
Facebook and Instagram became the main social media platforms for me. Again, just posting
away. You know, I was posted pictures when I was hanging out with friends, posting pictures of what I ate,
all that stuff. And these social media platforms became useful for me, especially because
(09:47):
I make music and podcasts. So, these were the avenues of how people could find me.
My relationship with social media so far, it's been great. It's just become like this essential thing.
I got to check my phone, got to check my, you know, computer when it was back then. Back
(10:12):
on my space, you, you know, it wasn't on a smartphone. You're on my space really in the morning
before you went to school. And then when you got home from school, you check my space, right? For messages,
comments, likes, or messages and comments. I think there was likes. I remember a funny story
(10:37):
with my space. This was in 2005, 2006. Our computers in high school. My space wasn't blocked. You
could go on my space, right? But then in computer class, someone was on my space. And back then,
(10:59):
there would be an indicator whether you're online on my space. I think on your profile would say
online now. A mom saw that their child was on my space and she was upset. She called this school
and said, why is my kid on my space while he, while they're in class. And because of that,
(11:25):
my space was blocked from computers. What a bummer. And we got to find a way around it. I don't know
how we found out, but there was a site you can go on that would let you go on my space. It was like
this bypass, right? Way to bypass like the, the computers system. I also remember playing,
(11:53):
I remember playing Doom a lot. And back then. So I remember playing a lot of Doom on
on computer class. So shots out to that teacher. Thank you for letting us do that. So
(12:18):
fast forward, you know, back to more present times. I was still using Facebook heavily. I got into a
pretty heavily like 2018 started joining a bunch of groups and became super active. I met a lot of
friends online and I just became on on active on Facebook more and more. I think because
(12:44):
like I didn't see, I don't know, I just Facebook and Instagram just was popping, right? Facebook and
Instagram, there were no like huge algorithm changes. Nothing super major. You can still post and a
lot of people would still would see your stuff. And then, you know, the okay, let me go back. Let me
(13:08):
go back. I'm sorry. Yeah. So again, Facebook, Instagram still popping. And then I remember using it so
much more during the pandemic. For abuse reasons, right? You're locked down, quarantine, you really
couldn't get out the house and Facebook and Instagram, Twitter, it became this way to connect with people.
(13:35):
It was a great tool for that because you're going to go out to your friends in real life.
And zoom was popping for a bit. I remember attending zoom parties. At the time, my internet was not
the greatest. So my connection was always lagging. So I had to opt out for just the audio only.
(14:01):
So that was big. And I was honored all the time. And I remember I would get, you know, into arguments
like everybody did with people on social media, make, you know, meme wars. Those were fun. And made
some good friends or some drama, obviously. So that was just the thing, right? Social media just
(14:28):
became the second nature thing that you would do in your spare time or anytime became a dictating, right?
And then I noticed the algorithm changing little by little where kind of had to like
to in order for the engagement to be the same. You had to pay for Instagram, Facebook,
(14:57):
right to promote your ad or your post because algorithm was changing to where paid posts, sponsored
posts were getting more visibility than regular posts. So I started noticing that. And obviously,
I didn't, I didn't pay for these services. I didn't want to twice like boost like views,
(15:22):
but it didn't do much for me personally. And then I don't know, I just started noticing over time,
little by little, wow, how much social media can affect my mood. And obviously over these 20 years,
(15:48):
studies have been showing how detrimental social media can be for your mental health. Yes,
there's a lot of positive things about social media, networking, connecting with like-minded people,
some people meet their partners on social media. So it's a great way to
(16:14):
interact with people. Definitely also a bad aspect of that where there's bullying, harassment,
doxing, that type of stuff in social media. And yeah, so I just started noticing that man,
you know, I find myself comparing to other people making like man, they really have a good life,
(16:42):
my life sucks type of stuff or thinking like damn, my content's my grade because I don't get this
sort of that many likes, you know. And more than one occasion, I found myself consumed in
petty Facebook, Instagram drama, you know, I'd recommence and from a group post, from like
(17:04):
our Facebook group, for any social media platform, and it would just fuck my day up, right. And
me, for my speaking for myself, I like to hyper-fixate on things, thoughts, just ideas, and a lot of
(17:25):
times I find myself just getting upset by thinking of the same horrible comment over and over.
And I realize how much of an impact it had on my mental health. I get so anxious, you know,
or just be so caught up in some Facebook argument, a petty one, just it's just going back and forth,
(17:52):
back and forth, and I would just be so stressed out and so anxious arguing with random people
that I don't know and I'll never know outside of social media. And I was realizing like man,
(18:13):
this is really taking a toll on you, you know. I will say when I was
back then I didn't really think about it much because I was under the influence most of the time.
So like, yeah, it upset me, but you know, the drugs picked me back up.
(18:34):
It didn't really bother me as much as it does now. These days, I notice, yeah, it does,
it does affect me to be honest. And you know, I know social media is like engineered for people to
(18:55):
always be on it and there's that side of it. But now there's, I also think about, you know,
I kind of a role to play in this because of how often I'm on social media. I'm on a lot.
When I look at my screen time, I'm like dude, really? That was a long time. That's a lot of time on social media.
(19:19):
And the trippy part is, I don't even realize it. I'm so hooked onto it.
I remember how I would see friends slowly be less active on social media or they delete their account.
Now I was like, wow, that's trippy. Like what do I know what happened?
(19:42):
You know, or like, why'd you stop posting so much? And now I kind of see it.
Oftentimes, they realized the same thing I did, but a lot earlier,
and maybe it's not as good for their health mentally. Or they just have other hobbies.
They're realizing that maybe social media being on all the time is in great for me.
(20:05):
And also, they're getting a little more older. Like now, I don't post as much stuff out there like I used to.
I used to be really out there just posting home, feeling what I'm thinking.
Just and just dissing people on like, statuses, like 10, 15 years ago, just, you know,
(20:31):
calling people out without actually tagging them in there, you know.
And now I'm just more like, you know, yeah, that upsets me. But I'm not going to make a stink over it.
One thing I'm realizing now is that turn rage bait where people on purpose host something in
(20:53):
flammatory or you're subsetting, so they can get people to react. This is like a thing I never really
realized it happened until like a few years back. And I used to get so swept up and, you know,
man, what the fuck is this person thinking when you fucking out your mind, blah blah blah,
(21:14):
this is now you're tripping. And I get so exhausted after those, I'd always check
the comments, see, oh, I'll back to somebody roasted this person. I'm gonna keep looking at this
person, the comments and see how badly this person gets roasted kind of thing.
And I'm learning now that even just by like commenting, I'm contributing to something I don't like.
(21:49):
It's not same people that should in comment on things they don't like, but just excessive stuff
when you get so fixated on it, it's not good for me at least. Like, yeah, if you disagree with something
cool, post, I mean, a lot of times it isn't necessarily comment, but just that has to be a balance,
you know, for me at least. I just find myself getting so stuck in it, getting so upset.
(22:17):
And now I'm just like, man, I don't know if this person is woefully ignorant and just naive,
are they're purposely saying stuff that's like fucked up so they can get more engagement and go viral.
That's another thing. And going viral, right? Back then I was like funny cat videos.
(22:39):
Still is, but now it's just people doing silly things or saying things. They're just,
you know, fucked up that like they go viral for it. And we've seen it in media in different aspects
that potentially any attention is good attention or any type of like
(23:01):
attention, press, good or bad is good because your your name gets
it like your name just pops up more and algorithm and it shows up. And I think social media rewards that
right. And I think it's great if it's like something good, something, you know, but when it's just
(23:31):
people saying stuff to go viral on purpose, it's just it's not, I don't know, it doesn't click with
me, it doesn't resonate. And here I am 20 years into social media. I still use it. I'm not going to lie.
I don't see myself like deleting my social media accounts, but it's just different now.
(23:57):
See it. I see so many things that upset me. I'm pretty sure that's also, you know, algorithm
right now. So I have to side like, okay, so you see keep seeing things that upset you.
I got to kind of dial back and mic and such an social media. I'm pretty sure I've said in
(24:18):
previous episodes that when I'm bored, I'm set when I'm just I don't know. There's not in a good
mood that I should not scroll on social media because when I do, it makes me more upset for the most part.
So my relationship with social media just went from just posting whatever, whenever,
(24:49):
right. And over those over that time over 20 years, I guess I've seen myself kind of just
scaled back and say, well, okay, before I post this, like, why am I posting this?
Why the right mindset? Like, is this here a perversely like, upset somebody? Is this, you know,
(25:10):
that kind of stuff. You know, I suppose memes so much and making them all the time. But
I did a lot for like a few years. But now it's like, you know, now it's fine. It's just like,
I don't know. I feel like I'm redirecting my energy to different places. You know,
and I'm just on social media less. And it's been great. I feel like I kind of have to be,
(25:40):
I don't have to be on social media. But because I'm doing podcasting because I'm doing music,
it's a great tool. Posting me as a tool. It's a great tool to use to, for people to check out what you're
doing. So I make the reels on Instagram. I don't really use TikTok. I try it for a little while,
(26:04):
but I just, it's not my thing. It's something I realize it. Hey, I think it's great. I think
it's beneficial for a lot of people, not for me. I use threads back in the day like when it first came
out for a little bit. And I can tell you like, it was great. I got so many guests off threads.
(26:31):
Got my therapist off threads. But I don't know. Again, I just started seeing more stuff. I just like,
kind of like room, I moved, you know, I mean, it's not, you know, like I'm not trying to show
away from all the fucked up shit. There's a lot of fucked up shit going on, but it's just the amount of
(26:52):
it. I was like, bro, I can't, I can't process this. You know, I used to be back then. I don't know.
I just can't, I mean, maybe I can't, I just, but I'm realizing how taxing it is to process all the
fucked up shit going on. Like I'm tired. I just, you know, I'm learning that I got to be mindful of
(27:17):
scrolling on social media in the morning. Right when I wake up, I do it. Alarm goes off.
Sometimes I purposely go on my phone just to wake up because that blue light does keep you up.
So I do that. But 20 years in, man, I've seen social media change. I feel like it's a lot different than
(27:43):
it was. Or maybe because I've been on 20 years and I'm a little jaded. It's not what it was for me.
Somebody who just got into it five, 10, 15 years ago made a different opinion.
But yeah, you know, I've been posting so much on Instagram against loaded down. It's kind of like why
(28:06):
my posting just to stay relevant on the algorithm.
Like, do I have to just keep thinking of things to post just to stay again relevant on social media
thinking of like trends and all this stuff. And I could do that. That's great. I mean, maybe I should,
you know, but how I'm just fucking tired dog. It's my age, man, but
(28:30):
a lot of times I'm just like fuck dude. I don't really want to do this. Like, I don't really want to post
like I used to. You know, I also, maybe I feel discouraged because the likes are in there. I feel like
a lot of times it's the motivation for you know, I still do it for the, you know, just they,
the posts to just see what I'm doing in terms of podcasting and music.
(28:54):
But now I feel like I always had to do it, right? I always had to do this. But as I'm getting older
and longer been on social media, it's like, do I really have to? Do I really have to do that?
No, man, you'll take a break. You'll go play some video games. You'll take a nap, dude.
Because again, just being on social media for a long time,
(29:22):
it's definitely a, had great impact, you know, for myself. I don't knock social media for that.
I've had great interactions on social media. I've met great friends on social media that I'm
friends with in real life now. And great networking tool, right? But it's also contributed to
(29:44):
a lot of my anxiety, a lot of my frustration, a lot of comparing the comparison game.
It's so easy and kind of unavoidable almost to do now in social media that when I do do that,
I got to check myself and think, man, all we're seeing is this person's highlight reel, just like
(30:04):
they're seeing yours. You know, their success does not have anything to do with yours. Now people can
both, you can be successful as well as just different metrics on how you view success, you know.
So yeah, these days, I'm on it still, you know, I don't really do the Facebook groups anymore,
(30:29):
not as much keeping in touch with close friends, send memes, post stories. But I'm learning now that,
again, social media is a tool. It's not life. I think back then, social media was like life for me,
right? It would just be second nature to always just post stuff, take pictures and post it.
(30:57):
I don't even really like do that as much. But yeah, it's a tool in not life. Can't imagine how it is
for the younger generation than they were born into social media. I think my generation was like
the last generation where social media became a thing when you were in your late teens.
(31:25):
And I remember having a childhood without social media. And being born into it, having, you know,
I can't imagine what it's like. Probably so much different, so much more difficult. Can't
imagine what high school is like now, middle school is like now, elementary school, all that shit, you know.
(31:48):
So yeah, that's this week's episode. I'm grateful for social media so you can see this. It's a great
way for me to connect with people that like my content, music, my podcast, all that stuff.
(32:08):
But I'm just seeing myself like slowly distancing away from it and posting only one I have to.
It's a great way to keep in touch with friends. But it's just for me it's not the same.
20-year relationship of social media, man. That's a trip.
(32:34):
Like again, the calculation earlier, 20 years, man, I've checked my phone or my computer,
get those messages, those comments, those likes, it's wild. So now I can see why people deactivate
their social media. Take social media breaks or just have it and just not really check, you know.
(33:03):
Because it is, it can be anxiety, inducing, overwhelming, you know, seeing all those things.
And I don't know, again, our brain isn't, I don't think it's made to process all this information
at once. It's not made to process what everyone's thinking and what's scrolling on Twitter or whatever
(33:24):
you'd see when everyone's thinking at the same time. I don't know, for me it was more bearable.
Again, back then because I was under influence and that kind of numbs you for a bit. But now I'm not,
I'm like fuck, man, this is intense. So that is today's episode. Thank you for listening. Thank you
for tuning in. Shout out to the people using MySpace as day one. That was, that was the era, right?
(33:52):
So for a while, moving forward, I think I'm going to start posting episodes on Monday and see how the
engagement is. And go from there. So I have a good rest of your Friday and your weekend and take care
and see you not this Monday, but the next Monday. Take care.
(34:17):
[BLANK_AUDIO]
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