0:15  
Lucan Coutts is a photographer and social media influencer. He has over 40,000 followers on Instagram. He takes photos of big cities with bright colours and he has inspired thousands who follow his journey on social media.

0:36  
You know a little bit about myself, you know, I'm a photographer from Toronto, and earlier this year, I went viral on social media where I gained a larger following. And once that happened, that's when I got a little bit deeper, know deeper invested.

1:00  
Earlier this year, his photo of snowy Yonge and Dundas went viral online. After it was published in Toronto Life, people began to notice his work and his following on Instagram quickly skyrocketed.

1:13  
Somebody with a verified account and a small guy, couple thousand followers yet a verified account, though. He posted it to Twitter, and I was uncredited. Somebody else that I know you tagged me he's like, dude, that's your shot and it's kind of going viral right now. By the time I saw it, or I get it already had 10,000 likes on it.

1:30  
With new followers came new responsibilities. Having a famous account meant having to maintain engagement, and continue posting quality photos daily. The pressure was on and for Lucan, it wasn't always easy. 

1:42  
The novelty of it was just amazing. And, you know, having the viewers my story skyrocket from like 800 viewers all the way up to like six to 9000 you know, like that was kind of insane and a little bit intimidating. Another effect is that when you start to lose followers, or when your engagement starts to drop a little bit like it was a bit of a downward spiral.

2:05  
Now, when he goes out to shoot photos, he has audience engagement on his mind. He knows there are people out there who are looking at his social media as if it was his life. But he knows this isn't true. There's a lot that his profile leaves out, and that his audience doesn't know and doesn't see.

2:23  
Everyone's just putting on a front right? Like lives are never as exciting as you know, they look. Personally with my Instagram feed you know, I've had people that I met in Hong Kong, they were saying like, dude, your life looks so exciting. Like, you know, my Instagram page, it shows me traveling and like I've been in magazines as a model. Which from the outside might look cool, but what you don't see is like those two or three weeks that I spent in Hong Kong, just like shut in my room, you know, not doing anything and like, you never see the lower moments really.

2:54  
Just like Lucan people try to put their best foot forward on social media. Pictures of exciting parties, beautiful worldly destinations, and incredible achievements fill up people's timelines. It's not the whole picture, but it's what people see when they go on social media platforms like Instagram. It can have a strange effect on people. We even have an acronym for it now, FOMO or fear of missing out. Ryerson student Alison Gommes explains.

3:28  
People always check their phones or whatnot. I know back because I've this is my second degree, my first degree like that was when I noticed like what people were always like, oh, like so and so's having a party. I wish I was invited to this or that. And it's just like, kind of like people feeling down because they're being left out of like, what seems to be a big thing. But it really isn't in reality,

3:53  
It can seem like everyone you know, is on social media, and that makes it hard to walk away from it. In 2017, Instagram had about 800 million active users and there are more than 1 billion active users on Facebook.

4:07  
Social media can feel like its own little world, and it can be addicting. Sometimes the lasting feelings of anxiety or depression from using social media can be too overwhelming. Sabrina Bender, another Ryerson student is all too familiar with these feelings.

4:30  
I've actually been driven to delete the app a few times because of my mental health. I'm constantly comparing myself to the people I see on Instagram. Like no matter who they are, it really becomes like a disease where all you want to do is compare yourself even though you know it's bad for you. So it's really like this big paradox and it just it affects you in a lot of ways.

4:57  
Deleting the app might seem drastic to some, but it could limit the screen time which is something Katrina Thompson, an occupational therapist recommends to some of her patients. Katrina has worked at the Canadian Mental Health Organization for six years now, and has seen the impact social media can have on youth and their mental health.

5:27  
For people who maybe are coming that already have a predisposition to a diagnosis like depression, anxiety, even things like if they've gone through a trauma, or they may struggle with something like OCD. Like if you're constantly on the internet, looking at other things, how you interpret that is maybe not going to necessarily be great for your mental health. So I think for a lot of people, it can be kind of like an escape from real life. So you just kind of sit on social media, and you're, that's how you spend your time. I think it really limits people's communication face to face.

6:00  
Like any other addiction, social media can be tough to kick. It can take time and a lot of effort to stop comparing our lives to the lives we see on social media. But it isn't impossible to use it responsibly.

6:12  
I think a big thing is recognizing how people feel before and after. So a lot of what I do with my clients is challenge the thoughts that they have after they've seen something on social media. Like an example could be you know, my old friend from high school posted this beautiful photo of her in like New York City and she looks like she's having so much fun. The negative implication of that person seeing it was, I'm not as good as that person. I'm not as smart as that person. I don't have as much money. I won't amount to anything. I'm just a bad person and it leads to a lot of hopelessness worthlessness and other depressive symptoms, I think the biggest thing is challenging those.

6:50  
It's also important to keep the positive aspects of these platforms in mind, connection, communication, safe spaces, and communities are built online. It can give a voice to people who feel out of place.

7:07  
So many people are more able to say, hey, I've connected with someone in such a great way through this social media platform. But I think it's more about helping my clients realize that they can kind of set limits. In a lot of the clients that I work with, you know, they're quite anxious and shy and and going out and meeting somebody in person or talking to them in person is hard for them. So sometimes an alternative to that, like a chat room where they can talk to someone who may have gone through a similar experience is actually quite empowering and, and helpful for them. So I wouldn't say it's like, bad or good. I think there are positive implications to use of social media and as well as negative implications.

7:49  
For RSJ Radio, I'm Talia Beninger.

7:51  
and I'm Anastasia Andric.