BS NEWSHOUR STUDENT REPORTING LABS

“ON OUR MINDS” EPISODE 5 - TRANSCRIPT

CAROLINE: Have you ever developed a new insecurity because of social media?
ELLIE: I definitely have sometimes gotten upset, like thinking that I didn’t get invited to
something.
KAT: I’ve noticed that I’ve definitely seen things in myself that I wasn’t as happy with.
Appearances like their hair might look nice or their skin might look nice, and then you find
yourself comparing it to yourself.

____

Zion: From PBS NewsHour Student Reporting Labs

Noah: and WETA Well-Beings.

Zion: This is on Our Minds

Noah: with Noah

Zion: and Zion

Noah: A podcast about teenagers and mental health, because life is hard,

Zion: really hard,

Noah: and hearing stories about what other teens are going through and how they're getting better. It
helps.

____

Zion: A note before we get started today, we're going to be talking about anxiety, depression and the
effects of social media if you are someone you know needs help. We have a list of resources at
Stulen Labs, dog slash mental health resources.

Noah: Additionally, if issues related to anxiety, depression, and social media are triggering topics, we
recommend you skip this episode or listen with a trusted adult.
Zion: Hey, Noah.

Noah: Hey, Zion

Zion: Noah, what's on your mind today?

Noah: You know, what's really been on my mind is that this is the last episode of this season of On
Our Minds.

Zion: I was just about to say how crazy that is, but I've recently learned that that word crazy is
something we should think twice about before saying.

Noah: Remember in episode three on race and class when Morgan told someone at school that she
worked at a psychology clinic and the other students said, like for crazy people, and she had to
educate him on how people with mental health disorders aren't crazy, calling someone that is really
disrespectful.

Zion: There's also the word insane, which has a lot of historical and cultural meaning. It was used to
categorize and harm people. So it's not a word to be used lightly

Noah: I also catch myself using those words all the time, but it's important not to use them when
describing someone's mental health or like their personality.

Zion: It's going to be hard to stop using those words for me because I think I use them a little too
frequently.

Noah: Changing habits is really hard today. We're actually going to be sharing some stories about
people who, despite the challenges, did manage to change their habits, specifically in regards to
social media.

Zion: I am constantly on Pinterest. It's a little bit addictive, just a little bit. sitting there for like hours
looking at pictures and social media apps like that can really drain you and make you feel like you just
kind of wasted your time a little bit.

Noah: In our first story, Caroline from Austin, Texas, briefly spoke to several students about the
toxicity they find in social media.
____

CAROLINE OWEN: What social media apps do you have?

KAT: I have Instagram Tiktok and snapchat
ELLIE: I only have snapchat
RUBY: I have Instagram Tiktok and Snapchat
CAROLINE: In the time since you downloaded these apps would you say you’ve noticed a
difference in your mental health or self image?
RUBY: Yes I do think that I have seen a difference in my mental health and I think that social
media has played a role in that.
KAT: For me, Instagram has been the most toxic and bad for my self image.
CAROLINE: Have you ever developed a new insecurity because of social media?
ELLIE: I definitely have sometimes gotten upset, like thinking that I didn’t get invited to
something.
KAT: I’ve noticed that I’ve definitely seen things in myself that I wasn’t as happy with.
Appearances like their hair might look nice or their skin might look nice, and then you find
yourself comparing it to yourself.
CAROLINE: Have you ever seen an ad on social media that appeals to an insecurity of yours?
KAT: I’ve seen multiple ads that are supposed to help fix insecurities, I’ve even been drawn to
some.
RUBY: Yeah, I’ve seen many detox tea ads and those can be really harmful. I think that these
ads are usually marketed towards young insecure teenagers who are looking for a cheap easy
solution to their insecurities.
CAROLINE: Overall would you say that the positives outweigh the negatives or the negatives
outweigh the positives of social media in general.
ELLIE: I think that definitely the negatives outweigh the positives. It’s definitely gone way too
far and it’s for sure had a negative impact overall.

____

Noah: You know, I really agree with a lot that everyone in the story was talking about, you know,
promoting diet culture is one of the things that really affects teenagers the most because we're in our
most insecure, like part of our lives. And, you know, we all want to be skinny. We all want to have
perfect skin and like, look pretty. But, you know, we're all unique. Not all of us can, you know, look like
Kylie Jenner.

Zion: Yeah, teenagers are extremely insecure, especially like our ages. I know for me, I see like,
those like makeup ads in the girls faces will look like, so clear and pretty. And I'm just like, oh, I wish
my face looked like that. But it's important that we kind of step back sometimes and read those
messages and understand where they're coming from and make sure we're not falling into that trap of
insecurity.
Noah: Yes, social media sometimes makes us more insecure, it increases our fear of missing out, but
then our insecurities make us keep coming back to social media as if it could make us feel better. It's
a dangerous cycle sometimes.

Zion: Especially with comments and likes, because you can start to overthink how people perceive
you, you even start to question if certain people really like you.

Noah: Isabel, who goes to Independence High School in North Carolina, talks about that in our next
story.

____

Isabel: From six to seventh grade, I struggled a lot with depression, anxiety, and I struggled
with self-confidence. When I first entered middle school, I instantly got haters that called me
disgusting and thought I was ugly. And they totally disrespected my opinion just because it was
different than theirs. I started to think that this would be my life now, that I would stay in this
depressed mindset and just hate how I looked and myself for the rest of my life. I never
thought I would ever not feel that way. I also had an Instagram account where I would post
polls and my story saying, Do you think I'm ugly? Yes or no, because I cared so much about
what people thought of me and my haters that I didn't know where my haters followed me on
my account and voted that yes, they do think I'm ugly. So just those things that people would
say about me on social media would hurt me a lot. So I deleted my old Instagram account and
I wasn't on my phone for six months. I just took a break from my phone and social media in
general to just find myself and just to do better for myself.

It was a huge change in my life, but the outcome was worth it because after that I didn't care
what people had to say about me because I wasn't crowded by those words from those
people, from social media anymore.
The way like I treated people changed so much. I used to be so hateful, but literally now I am
not hateful towards anybody. It doesn't matter what they did to me. It doesn't matter if they
cussed me out. I still wouldn't treat them like that because that would make me like them.
I learned a lot of things throughout those years in my life when I dealt with all that stuff. But the
main thing I learned was to love everybody, including yourself, because that does so much in
this world. Literally one positive thing that you tell somebody something as simple as how are
you doing or good morning, or that you're beautiful, that could mean the world to them and that
can make somebody's day.

____

Noah: You know, Isabel is not alone and, you know, always wondering if people think she's ugly or
not. And putting polls on Instagram asking that question. my friends, they would post stuff like that
and, you know, like kind of understand like it can be sort of a joke in some way because it's usually
them, like trying to look pretty or whatever. My immediate reaction is to send the message be like, you
know, are you OK? You know, like you're you look great in this photo. But like, what's the meaning
behind it? Are you doing fine?

Zion: I think it's really detrimental to your health to ask anyone other than, you know, yourself or
someone you're really close to for validation.

Noah: I'm not a big social media person, don't get me wrong, but, you know, every single time I even
get close to thinking about deleting, like, my Instagram or my Twitter, the first thing I jump to is, you
know, how many people do I use that app to contact because I don't have everyone's phone number.
I don't have, like an iPhone. I can't just imessage someone who doesn't have a phone. So the only
thing really keeping me in is the communication aspect, which is what social media originally was
about.

Zion: In our next story, Steven from Pflugerville, Texas did an experiment of taking a break from
social media. Here he is documenting how the absence of these social media platforms affected his
mental health.

____

Steven: For the past year mostly everyone I know has been spending most of their time inside
of their houses, with only screens serving as their connection to the outside world. This has
been useful for getting schoolwork done and socializing, but in my case it's also hurt. The
constant checking of bad news has increased my anxiety over the state of the world. To
combat this anxiety I decided I would take a week off from these addictive platforms and then
return, and reevaluate how I use these platforms. I’ll be checking in daily to describe my mood
changes and what I’m doing to fill the time that I’m not online.
It is currently day one of the seven day social media break that I am taking. Recently, uh, with
the extra time I’ve got now I’ve been going outside a lot more. Riding my bike, going for walks,
overall I just think this is probably the best thing I could’ve done for my mental health. I'm
looking forward to the next six days.
It is now day two and I have to say what I’m noticing now is that I can focus for so much longer.
Because there is no more of that urge to check for notifications, for news, for whatever new
content is out. This has definitely helped when it’s come to schoolwork, yeah, that is just one
positive development from this whole break I’m taking. Five days to go.
It is now day four and I have decided that I am never going to go back to how I used to use
these platforms.And I realized that I was truly only using it for social purposes because most of
my friends use social media to communicate. That’s why I won’t be quitting entirely.
Today is day six of my break from social media. I have to say since it’s Saturday it’s been a
little hard to come up with things to do in order to fill my free time.
Today’s day seven of the seven day break from social media. I feel that I’m way less anxious
than I was at the beginning of this break. I've concluded that I need to change up how I use
social media and how much of it I use. I think if anyone else is struggling to stay off of social
 media try out the same break and then reintroduce the tools to your life and see what works
best for you. Personally I feel so much better mentally.

____

Zion: Good for Stephen, I'm so proud of him for being able to do that, to stop being on social media
and take a break. I feel that we're really using those apps and stuff for distractions.
Noah: Completely deleting your social media isn't the only way to improve your mental health.
Student Reporting Labs recently spoke with Curtis Roach, a 21 year old musician and influencer from
Detroit, Michigan. He needs social media to market his music and brand.
Zion: Curtis Roach is a big deal in Michigan. I'm from Michigan. He's performed at festivals alongside
huge acts like Billie Eilish. He is also known for his song “Bored in the House.”
Noah: Here's what Curtis Roach had to say about using his phone and one thing he does to
counteract the constant stream of bad news.

____

Curtis Roach: I'm very on top of my Zen overall, but I felt like with just this pandemic, and you
open your phone and you see, like so many different negative news articles there's a mass
shooting somewhere or, you know, a black life is taken away by the police every day, you
know, saying those things just make you want to lose your mind after last. So it was kind of like
a thing where you just even writing down your thoughts. There's this thing that I learned from
the therapist, these daily morning writes. You fill up three pages of your thoughts as soon as
you wake up. Don't stop. Doesn't matter what it is. You just three pages and they go on about
today. And that right there helped me like, tremendously.

____

Zion: I see why Curtis journals. That can really help when you're having bad days and just do not
want to talk to people or you just can't find a way to get those feelings out, writing them down on
paper can really help. I know for me, that's what I do when I'm having like a really rough day or I just
can't get something off my mind. I'll write like a little poem about how I'm feeling and it helps a lot to
relieve my stress and anxiety and everything so I can see how that helped him.

Noah: Yeah, But, you know, we should also point out that social media isn't always bad. It really
depends on your relationship with it.

Noah: John Barnes goes to H.B. Woodlawn in Arlington, Virginia. Here's John talking about what
adults get wrong about social media.

____
 John Barnes: A lot of people, depending on the household they live in, you know maybe
people in the LGBT community who want to learn more about like or just connect with people
who are similar to them. Maybe they're in a household where that's not safe or people who
maybe want to learn about sex ed. But that's something their school district doesn't teach their
parents won't talk about it with them. So I think social media is a great place, especially I've
seen Tik-Tik is just people asking questions on accounts with maybe people who are a trusted
source, like a therapist or some kind of educator, medical professional, because they don't
have that resource right in their household or at their school. So this kind of connects to the
idea of learning because I just always see it on my page, people asking questions because
they don't have any other place to go. And I think it's great that some people are getting those
resources that they wouldn't normally have.

____

Noah: For me, social media is one of my main entertainment resources, and I completely agree with
what John said about it being a great resource for people who are LGBTQ, kind of like I am. Social
media was my first exposure to LGBTQ culture and like the whole concept of it. And, it definitely
helped me through trying to figure out who I am.

Zion: Noah, I'm so glad that it helped you with your own identity. I think social media definitely has
some benefits, especially when you're trying to find your people.

Noah: Terry from Alabama, he mentioned some other benefits to social media and that's creativity
and self-expression.

____

TERRY: The side of social media that I like is When people express themselves in bonding
through art, I think that I think that's very important, you know, versus. focusing on, like, how
many likes I got or something, [00:18:27][7.1]

You just have to set times you just have to have time, you know, to be on social media and,
you know, it's time to step away and meditate and breathe. One thing I do is I pray. You know,
spend time with your family and just really find ways to debrief I would say. Clear your mind
because it's important.

____

Zion: Clearing your mind is super helpful. I know for me I meditate and that honestly that experience
just meditating and kind of connecting with myself is so special to me. It really helps me just calm
down and take a moment to really understand my emotions, understand what I'm going through at the
time.

Noah: I actually had the pleasure of speaking with Maryland's Montgomery County mindfulness
coordinator, Jeffrey Donald. We spoke about how yoga and meditation in schools can make a huge
difference in our mental health.

____

Noah: Mr. Donald, thank you so much for joining us today.

Jeffrey Donald: Hi Noah, thanks so much for having me.

Noah: So I understand that you're both the teacher and the mindfulness coordinator for
Montgomery County Public Schools in Maryland. Tell me about how you started doing
mindfulness and yoga with your students.

Jeffrey Donald: It was a total accident. I had been teaching at the high school level for many
years and really saw that are a great amount of my students weren't being served emotionally
by the academics, was fine. But there was no one addressing the social, emotional mental
health piece. And I'd always been doing yoga and mindfulness myself as a personal practice
But one day, these kids of mine, every once in a while and you know this, Noah, you know how
to get your teacher upset they were pushing my buttons that day. So regularly, I would keep my
doors open, but that day I closed my doors and I whipped out my yoga mat and I started doing
some meditation just to kind of get myself back together for the second half of the day. Well, I'd
forgotten to lock the doors and a couple of my kids came in and they said something down the
line of, what are you doing? And I pretty much told them, you know, it's too difficult for me to
explain and take too long. Just sit down. I've got a couple of mats right here. Sit down with me
and do it with me. I'll show you. And those two young men sat down with me and we did it
together. And when we were done ten minutes later, they said, can we do this again tomorrow?
And I said, sure, I really didn't think they'd show up. But they did. They came and that turned
into four kids and four kids, turned into eight kids and eight turned into 20 and into 30, then to
60. And eventually it turned into a school wide program. My only job is to teach mindfulness
and yoga and meditation to two hundred and eight schools. I got the best job ever and ever.

Noah: So how have you seen mindfulness and yoga help your students?

Jeffrey Donald: A perfect example. Tim was a 10th grader when I met him. And he was really
not served by the system. He had a truly difficult childhood and some really hard, hard and
difficult things that had happened to him. And so he was extremely disillusioned and had given
up on the school. I was rotating in to his classroom once a week to meditate with students, to
teach them some mindfulness techniques. And very slowly, over the course of a few months,
he's really started to see his part in how this was playing out and how his life was playing out
and how he was seeing that his actions were an issue as well as the system. And he slowly
turned to that school year. He went from failing every class to passing every class with an A.
And he went on to Brown University and just graduated a few weeks back. He's one of my all
stars. This isn't a competition. This is about you knowing who you are. And how you can work
with yourself for that better outcome.

Noah: So how does yoga affect the brain and our emotions? Is it purely for relaxation and
mindfulness or can it also be like strengthening physically?

Jeffrey Donald: It's both. You see, your emotional state is the center of your consciousness.
Think about this. Think about the last time you were angry or upset. Were you thinking
straight? Absolutely not.Our emotions also affect our body as well. You know, we have these
physical manifestations of stress and that comes in many forms, anything from aches and
pains to sickness to some pretty debilitating and treacherous diseases. And all of this it begins
and ends with the with our emotional state.

Noah: We're going to take a little bit of a shift, we're going to talk about social media, so a lot
of student stories that were submitted, they talked about how social media has taken such a
toll on their mental health.

how do you think we get students or anyone else who feels like they're addicted to their phone
and social media to like, move away from it and stop using it as sort of a coping skill?

Jeffrey Donald: I recommend walking away even briefly, even a couple of minutes away. Kind
of brings us back to us and I watch my kids go through this as well, you know, they walk away
even for a moment, and then they start saying, I'm bored, I'm bored, I'm bored. Well, you know
what? Maybe, maybe that's a good thing. Maybe you should just go take a walk, you know, go
go outside, get, get your face under the sun. Go, go, go, go. even if it's five minutes and then
come back, it really kind of grounds us again into the real world.

Noah: Yeah, and we could also use yoga during that time when we're away?

Jeffrey Donald: Absolutely. Let me just also add that. Embracing silence can be really difficult,
but it also can be very cathartic to us when we're so accustomed to that. Information overload,

Noah: So for those who have never practiced yoga or mindfulness, how do you how do they
get started, especially when they don't have a resource from their school?
 Jeffrey Donald: There are countless. Videos and platforms like on YouTube, et cetera, et
cetera. My only caution would be to just go easy at first because you're working muscles.
Maybe you are unaccustomed to being still for even more than a few minutes. And that can be
really disconcerting or uncomfortable. So just take your time, ease yourself in, see if you like it,
see if it's your thing.

No matter what you have done or no matter what was done to you. No matter what your
economic status is, your social status, your race, your gender. / With a few simple tools. The
world can really open up to you. There are no accidents, you were created exactly as God
intended. You are perfect. I like to say that it's important to hear.

Noah: Thank you so much for coming to talk with us today.

Jeffrey Donald: Thank you, Noah, it's been a pleasure being here.

____

Zion: I think that's so cool how schools in Montgomery County, Maryland are integrating yoga into
their curriculum. I know for me, my school we have a mental health week. At some events we do
yoga and stuff like that. But I really wish we did more. I would love to have, you know, yoga every
week or even maybe like every day after school. I think that would be so nice

Noah: in our health curriculum, they do teach meditation. I just wish it was a little more in-depth, you
know?

Zion: Yeah, I agree with that.

Noah: I'm just thinking about all the information that we have learned from the last five episodes and
you know, how quickly this is all gone by.

Zion: I've learned that connecting with your emotions and taking time with yourself is so important to
improving your mental health and really looking at signs that you may not be OK and what's going on
in your life and have different coping strategies.

Noah: I, you know, learned that, you know, everyone's going through their own kind of thing and, you
know, having other people around there with you to help you through it is the very important thing.
You need a support system.
Zion: We actually have one more thing for our listeners. It's a bonus episode.

Noah: Yeah, we got to speak with Tara Brach, who is a psychologist, author and teacher of
meditation. The conversation was so good and it was really hard to edit down.

Zion: And Tara even let us in a guided meditation that really helped me relax and calm down. So
that's included as well.

Noah: Yeah. Be sure to listen to that bonus episode which comes out next week.

Zion: It's going to be awesome to hear more of what's...

Noah and Zion: on our minds.

____

Zion: Today's stories were produced by Caroline from McCallum High School in Austin, Texas, with
help from Connect educator David Winters [00:58:03][6.8]

Noah: Isabel from Independence High School in Charlotte, North Carolina with help from Connected
Educator Marie Worsley-Matthews.

Zion: Steven from Pflugerville High School in Pflugerville, Texas with help from a connected educator,
David Robb.

Noah: SRL digital producer Rawan Elbaba and associate youth media producer, Becky Wandell
produced the conversations with Curtis Roach and John Barnes.

Zion: SRL intern Grace Vi-tie-onie interviewed Terri from Clay-Chalkville High School in Pinson,
Alabama.

With help from connected educator Abby Gillete

Noah: And many thanks to educator and mindfulness coach Jeffrey Donald for giving us his time.
Zion: This episode was produced by a student reporting lab's production assistant, Mercedes Ezeji,
an SRL youth media producer, Briget Ganske.

Noah: Executive producer Leah Clapman, SRL senior director Elis Estrada, and help from the rest of
the student reporting lab staff.

Zion: And music by Blue Dot Sessions.

Noah: If you or someone you know needs help, we have a list of resources at student reporting labs,
dot org slash mental health resources

Zion: And tell your friends about us. Spread the word. The more people who know about mental
health, the better.