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Join James Petrossi in 'Leave the Feed: 30 Days of Disconnect' as he interviews creators and mental health advocates about their journeys, the digital quagmire, and tips to create a healthier relationship with social media.
[00:00:00]
James Petrossi: Hello and welcome to Leave the Feed, 30 Days of Disconnect. Today is 25, getting close to the end. Reconnecting with humanity. This section is players on the stage, and we're all just players on the stage of life, and with me right now is an epic player on the stage of life. An actor, a comedian, a mental health advocate, and just a great guy, Eric Artell.
Eric, welcome to the show.
Eric Artell: And, and if somebody came to this on a feed you're supposed to be leaving the feed to, so we'll encourage you if they found, if they came across this on a feed. no, I'm, I'm really thrilled to be here and to talk about some of these topics. James. I'm, I feel very [00:01:00] passionately about them?
James Petrossi: Awesome. Great. Well, let's start with your story. How did your whole journey unfold in the world of entertainment content creation? Talk about like what was the spark and some of the milestones that led you to where you are today?
Eric Artell: Well i loved to Angeles a number of years ago to act, to be a full-time
and. to pursue acting, I should say, with the hope that I would be able to make a career out of it. I was very lucky enough and blessed enough to be a full-time actor for a number of years. And, TV commercials, voiceover, I, I've pretty much worked, done everything under the sun when it comes to the acting career and entertainment industry. And in do so doing, I of fell backwards into content creation. there was a digital network that was [00:02:00] starting up and this is when kind of YouTube was starting to get really. Coming into its own when it comes to content creation, when Vine was exploded on the scene.
James Petrossi: Mm-hmm.
Eric Artell: so I pitched a show to this digital network
doing a daily show and that. Led to being connected with a lot of creators. Working with creators. And then that led to being a part of creator developments and helping develop a lot of creators and and becoming an influencer creator myself.
James Petrossi: And
Eric Artell: Talk about what you,
James Petrossi: you create. Like what is, what is your,
Eric Artell: silliness?
James Petrossi: Yeah. Silliness.
Eric Artell: I, look, I.
James Petrossi: I.
Eric Artell: when I first,
from when I first felt strongly that I wanted to be an actor, one of the extraordinarily powerful [00:03:00] motivations that was positively affect other people. So I, I still remember a very, James, a very visceral experience where I was in a. Community theater show in this small little, in the round theater in Linden, Utah. And like the most community theater you could get and doing, just playing a very silly character. And it's wonderful. The, the, what we're gonna be talking about today, like the characters of life.
I was playing a very silly character. And there were some people that were in the front row, which meant their, their feet were in, in our stage space. Just laughing and laughing and laughing and not really because of what I was doing, but just because of the enjoying the show. And then after the show, they were still laughing and it, it was amazing that experience of having that positive impact on someone you know, who knows what they were going through in life that day. [00:04:00] Or that week or that month. But in that moment of time, they were putting a lot of things aside and were just enjoying life and were enjoying joy. And and happiness. And that was a very, very powerful experience for me. And so going into entertainment and going into acting, that has been a motivating factor or something that has affected how, how I've wanted to go about doing things.
And so when it comes to content creation and digital content creation. I've always, I, I've always just thought, well, what would be fun to watch? What would be kind of enjoyable or fun? What might put a smile on someone's face? I've done some serious things in my life as an actor. I've done serious work, even on a social media.
I've [00:05:00] kind of del delved into some more serious stuff. But for the most part, been about finding. It's a joyful moment, that I thought might put a smile on someone's face. So that's kind of been the motivation or how I have gone about my influencer career and in my content creation career. Sometimes successfully, sometimes not. I'm sure there are people who've been wa have watched I, I watched some of my stuff. I just think, what, what on earth was I doing? Why? Like, why would I, why do I think that that would make someone smile? But I think it does still make people smile. I mean, people will still message me things and they'll, and I'll think, well I am grateful that that, that I'm humbled that that affected your day. And so as we, you know, talk about mental health and as we [00:06:00] talk about these types of things, it, it all is so related. But really that's, think without knowing it and knowing where my life was gonna be today and what I'm focused on today, was that motivation to positively affect people's mental health
James Petrossi: Well, you're doing an awesome job because I'm not typically on social media, but obviously as having you a guest, I wanted to check out your feeds, and I loved Bad Rapper. I think it was called Bad Rapper, the second
hilarious, hilarious.
Eric Artell: and I just, I feel like it didn't get the
have gotten, but I will say. And for those who don't know what James is talking about, would do the, I did this series where I was a rapper starting to like lay down a rap beat and I would come across a rhyme, which was usually very self-deprecating.
It was usually something that was like embarrassing about me. And what was so fun about that, James, it was that. [00:07:00] At the time I was getting a lot of traction as an influencer, I put out a challenge to people to like use my, use those, use those rap beats. And I had, there were kids who were sending me the most delightful videos them, you know, lip syncing my rap, but. Roleplaying it and doing it was so, so fun, so delightful. So I I, I appreciate you bringing that up. Oh, man, those were fun. I should bring that back. I should roll it back. That was really fun to do. I.
James Petrossi: Well, I love the story of you being in the theater and seeing that joy and bringing that joy into people's life. And then as a influencer, now, content creator, being able to really harness that and bring that into the world, it's, it's really powerful. But creation doesn't come with challenges and being human doesn't come with challenges.
And we all, at one point [00:08:00] or another struggle with mental health and curious about your experience just in the world. Of Hollywood content creation and the impact it's had on you
Eric Artell: Social media's impact on mental health and someone who is an a creator Creating content for social media. Are a lot of mental health and I've seen it in a lot of my friends. The, the whole mechanism of getting likes and getting engagements tying your self-worth to that is extraordinarily tempting extraordinarily damaging. And I have seen and experienced myself, I mean, put putting something out there and you're putting something out there. I mean, you're being vulnerable, right? You're, you're making
James Petrossi: Mm-hmm.
Eric Artell: if, even if it is heavily edited, [00:09:00] still
putting something out there for complete strangers to see. And I mean, we could talk for hours about, about people. When they unleash their negativity within the anonymity of being able to comment on things because it is brutal and I, unless you've experienced it, I don't think you can appreciate how difficult it is. People can't appreciate how difficult it is to read just very hurtful comments from someone that you don't know who they are and they're, they're. They're launching her comments at you. It is. It is very, very challenge. That is very challenging. But then pair that with, you're putting this stuff out there and if it doesn't receive hate or, or meanness and unkindness, but just doesn't [00:10:00] get the engagement or the likes that you would want, really challenging mental health wise, because if. Because the temptation is to tie self worth to that. And so if it goes out there and people are not saying that they like it by liking it or commenting, you feel like they, they, they don't like it and therefore they don't like you and therefore you're worthless. And that is a very, very dangerous path to be on. And so certainly something that I think is very important as a content creator. anyone who's, who's putting content out on social media to be very intentional with where you how you define your self-worth and realizing. Who you are and why you are valuable as a person to other people. I'm a very religious person. I'm a very, [00:11:00] person. I strongly believe we are all children of God, and that is where our worth is. And and therefore the social media content. That doesn't affect that relationship, that that doesn't affect me knowing who I am and believing who I am and, and my worth to my wife, and to my children, and to my family, and to, my friends. But it's, but it's challenging. It is, it is dangerous. I think that's one of the dangers of, social media to mental health on the creator side, and then as on the consumer side. There's a litany of, things on the consumer side for people who are just, mean, right. Stopping the scroll, the people or, or leaving the feed, the people who are just on a feed and consuming content and, and how that can affect our mental health. As a consumer of social media, that is extraordinarily dangerous also. I [00:12:00] think it can also be very positive. I mean, there's the good there, the good, the bad, and the ugly. I mean, there is great things. As a parent, I love coming across content that's, that helps me in. I mean my wife and I share, my wife and I share videos back and forth. I think a lot of couples do this where they're just DMing videos back and forth to each other and sometimes we have a great time laughing about it. Sometimes it's stuff that is very relatable as parents or as couples and we can laugh about it. Other times it's stuff that is important, parenting. Concepts. And that can be very, very beneficial for us. But there's a, there is a flip side to that coin. There is another edge to that sword, and I know it's been talked about endlessly on in other venues and on other platforms. But the idea of, comparing yourself to something. [00:13:00] so for instance, as a parent, I might see a video. feed it might talk about how I should be handling a child who's having an anxious day,
James Petrossi: Hm.
Eric Artell: I can take that
try to implement it as possibly a, a piece of advice and I can use that for good. Or I might see that and feel like I'm a terrible parent, I'm not doing this. worthless. failing my child, I'm failing my spouse. I'm
my family. So there is that other edge of a sword, even on the same exact piece of content that I might see in my feed. I could go one way or or the other when it comes to my mental health. And I think we all need to recognize that.
James Petrossi: So how does Nerd HQ fit into this whole [00:14:00] equation?
Eric Artell: Well, no, I, Nerd hq I'm not the founder of Nerd HQ Zachary Levi, the actor Zachary Levi, founded Nerd hq. It's a nonprofit organization, a 5 0 1 C3, and it is a mental health focused nonprofit. It has its beginnings because Zach Levi, who is a world famous actor, many people who would, who would know him and have seen him particularly in, in seven, eight years ago, would've thought he, you know, he is top of the world, has everything going for him, and he experienced a very, a huge mental health crisis. With anxiety and depression. He's written a couple books about this to the point where, where he didn't know if he wanted to keep on going and therapy helped save his life. Mental health services and therapy was one of the, was one of the things [00:15:00] that helped, helped save his life as he is been very open about talking about. it's expensive. can be very expensive He recognized that and he thought, you know, let's see if we can help as many people as possible to get therapy, even if they can't afford it. So Nerd HQ as a nonprofit was born and our main mission is to provide access to free therapy for people who can't afford it. We're all nerdy about something. We like to say that we're nerds for mental health and, and we're all nerdy about something, whether it's comics or marvel or animation or football or plumbing or accounting or economics or whatever it might be, right? Gardening, baking. We're all nerdy about something and so we are all nerds. And so Nerd HQ is to help all of us be focused on mental health and to help. Those who are in need try to get access to therapy. So we are now [00:16:00] funding as of this recording, if you will. We are funding therapy and mental health services for over 300 people right now.
James Petrossi: Wow.
Eric Artell: And, just very humbling and, and I'm very grateful for this opportunity to be involved.
And I'm the executive director of the nonprofit and Zach called me up and asked me to help kind of spin it up off the ground and, and get it in to become a functional nonprofit. And it's just very humbling to be a part of it and to know that for these individuals. Who didn't have the opportunity to get the help that they needed are now able to get help that they need, and to think of the ripple effect that that causes because it's not just an individual getting help and being able to have, you know, a healthier mind and happier heart, but it's their C close. [00:17:00] Friends, it's their family. It's the, it will be positively affected. And there's an incredible ripple effect comes from people who are bettering themselves in the mental health arena just as there's a tragic ripple effect when there isn't that help. And when someone is struggling. With mental health and there is a ripple effect that happens on, on a, a difficult side, if you will. So I'm just very grateful that, that we're doing this with Nerd HQ and we're able to help as many people as we are, and we are just looking to try to help more and more people. People can go to nerd hq.org to access therapy if they need it, and if they can't afford it or to. Go and consider donating to help other people get that help.
They can go to nerd hq.org.
James Petrossi: Incredible mission and really powerful and yeah, we're all nerding [00:18:00] out on something. And you're right, like. For those that need help, it creates not just a ripple effect for their inner circle, but really the whole world. And let's go back to some joy, right? Let's go back to some joy right now. Let's get out of the darkness into the light, because today's whole lesson is about.
Acceptance and appreciation for all of the walks of life in this world. And I think social media you brought up, it's easy to throw shade, to tear people down, but we have the ability as humans to share a connected consciousness. Offline and lift each other up and be advocates for each other. So I'm curious, because you do so many fun interviews, whether it's in a pizza shop with LeBron James or people at, you know, different festivals and total geek out clothes.
Tell me what you love about the characters that this world has to offer. All of [00:19:00] these different players on the stage.
Eric Artell: important. Is so important at. I from a lot of the content that I've done and getting to talk to people and doing Man on the Street, if you will, it's so fun to connect with people that way. And I know this idea of I think one of the one of the ways that you've put it is is it micro connections or having,
James Petrossi: micro moments.
Eric Artell: moments. Thank you, thank you, thank you. Yes. Micro
can bring such incredible joy in our, in our lives and with people that we don't even know. I I'll never forget James, a number of years ago, and I, I'm sure people have had the same experience. was sitting in a. I think it was a California pizza, pizza, kitchen, kitchen here in here in California, in Los Angeles area, which is a place where, you know, sitting down, we're having some food with a friend of mine and we're chatting and we look [00:20:00] over to the table next to us. was a couple of decades ago, but we look over to the table next to us a guy and a girl who obviously were some sort of relationship, I think probably, but they were both just on their phones and not talking at all four. It seemed like the whole entire time. And at that time, and this was before, I think this was before Instagram. don't know. A lot of the social media things were very, very new. And I held off on having a smartphone for a, for a long time. So my friend and I, we just made. was interesting having this observation of, my goodness, they are not connecting at all. They're sitting there on maybe a date or I don't know what, what they were doing, but they weren't talking or connecting all with each other. And I remember clear as day the about that [00:21:00] and. How much I was enjoying having this conversation with my friend across the table and how important that is to talking about the joy, right? Talking about joy and how important that connection is. And then I'm gonna share another experience. I was in a grocery store, I. I have a few kids and my daughter at the time was, I dunno, maybe a year old, and she's in the, in the shopping cart. there was somebody in the grocery store who was a grocery store worker. And they were like, not mopping, but they were sweeping the floors. Like with that kind of broom thing that you do, you use it for the sweeping of the floors. And my daughter who loved to smile, very joyful little, little child, just wa was like staring and smiling at this person until they looked up at her and she just a huge smile, said hello. And the person looked at me said, [00:22:00] she just said hello to me with a huge
James Petrossi: Oh.
Eric Artell: his face. Now, I don't know how many
hello to this person working in the grocery store. Probably not a lot,
James Petrossi: Right.
Eric Artell: the joy that it brought to this person,
a, a complete stranger, making this micro moment, this small little connection with someone just saying hi with a smile, and to see the joy that put on someone's face such a teaching moment. To me. And so now as we, as we think about, you know, this idea, and it's why I love this, Leave the Feed human connection is so important and we feel, James, we feel like we're connected to people when we're on a feed, right?
When we're in the feed. sure you have friends who are on social media. I have a lot of friends who make a lot of content on social media. I can think of a lot of people in particular, like [00:23:00] my friend Adam, who I've known for a, for decades. taught him improv. I've, I've been an improv teacher. I, I, I perform improv comedy. He is an enormous creator and he, he makes really, really funny content and I, and it shows up in my feed and I feel like I've, I'm connecting with him. I feel like we're like buddies that we're still, we, we have like a strong, but I haven't talked to him in a long time, and
James Petrossi: Hmm.
Eric Artell: sitting here I'm thinking, my goodness, I need, I need to call, I need to call him.
I need to
him. But, but it's like this, it's this counterfeit connection that gets created on social media where we feel like we have a, we feel like we are connecting with someone when we are not. We're not, we are enjoying what they're doing in front of us. But my [00:24:00] friend, if I were to talk to him, he'd be like, oh, it's been so long.
You know? In my mind it hasn't, but it really has because we haven't actually personally, physically connected in a very, very long time, and that human connection is so important, whether it is with. loved ones people that we know, or like we were talking about, just being out in public, an act of kindness to someone holding the door for someone smiling, saying hello.
Making eye contact. Eye contact is so important. contact is so important. How many times, many times when we go to a store or to a Starbucks or to a, a grocery store or whatever. And how many times do we have the phone in our hands? We are getting something. We look down, we tap our card. How many times do we actually make eye contact with a person who's across [00:25:00] the counter? I'm guilty of it just as much as anyone else, but that eye contact that we can make with people connection and. Can be a basis joy to give kindness, to receive kindness in return. That's, that is what true joy and mental health wellbeing is based on. So I think it's so, so important what, what you brought up and what the topic of this is. Because, yeah. And, and me being able to be out and, and making that, I, I still remember a bunch of the people that complete strangers who I've interviewed, you know, [00:26:00] 'cause we're talking, we're looking at each other's eyes. We're talking, we're, we're talking about something. I don't, I don't remember even what we've talked about, but we, we had that connection and it, and it brought joy into my, and when I think about it now, it puts a smile on my face when I think about these people that I've connected with. and so being out there and this idea of. And Sorry James. I dunno if we, this is where we wanted to go, but, but this idea of leaving the feed and challenging ourselves to the phone in the pocket. What, what if you kept your phone at home and went on a walk, heaven forbid. What if you went on a walk and left your phone at home? Right? And noticed who the people were that were walking around saying hello to the people that are walking around. just doing some, doing some, what is it called? Not crowd surfing crowd watching. Right? It can be so beneficial for our mental health. I
James Petrossi: Yeah.
Eric Artell: that. I was, I I so strongly it, it could be 'cause it can be so [00:27:00] beneficial
And when we are kind to other people, that is such an incredible elixir. To the wounds that we feel inside. And I, you know, whenever somebody's hearing this and, and if this, if this makes the cut, so to speak, from Nerd hq, we're gonna be doing some really fun things getting involved in some challenges that that will, are going to revolve around this idea of like doing acts of kindness, doing daily acts of kindness, because that can be so powerful for our own wellbeing, not just someone else's mental health, but that can be so powerful for our own mental health. Get, get that phone outta your face and and connect with the world around you and the people around you. it might not be lasting a long lasting relationship. That's fine. It's about these micro moments. And the more you engage in them, the better you feel.
James Petrossi: Now, what would your advice be [00:28:00] to someone that's going through this challenge that. Usually has their phone in hand. Maybe it's 'cause they're creating content, maybe it's 'cause they're scrolling through content. And this whole idea of being present and being joyful with someone seems almost unorthodox.
Bizarre because I'm used to having this crutch in my hands that is keeping me from that. What, what hope do you have for them as they reenter the world? Lift their heads up and share that joy with other humans in these micro moments.
Eric Artell: that we learn what it's like to be human again. That's what it is. To be human, I feel like is to be present and to connect with others. That is part of humanity. So that's what I would say. My hope is that, talking about the challenge [00:29:00] and what, what, what advice would I give to people who are finding it challenging? Trust in humanity. Trust in, in being human. I guess the reason I say that is because like for instance, you can look up how to get somewhere on your phone. Or you can ask somebody. You might not get the right answer if you ask, if you ask somebody, but I mean, to the point being, we start to depend on our phones so many things, and it is convenient, and I get it. It is so convenient and it's wonderful. It's wonderful. Convenient convenience. So when we have the challenge of not. that phone in our hands, my encouragement is to trust. Trust in humanity. Trust that you'll enjoy being a human, not connected to a device and you can trust others [00:30:00] around you to help you experience what it's like to be human again. I wasn't planning on going into that, but that's what it feels like to me. and there are, there are emotions and there are feelings that you can only experience through those connections with the world around you other people around you that a device cannot accurately replicate Feelings and emotions that you can experience. So that would be my hope, I think. and I think also the hope of, I, I would hope that we'd find it easier than we fear, like
James Petrossi: Right.
Eric Artell: easier for, and, and maybe actually find it liberating. Like
that idea of leaving your home, leaving your phone at home, and you go take a walk. [00:31:00] It might be very fearful and like, I don't know if I can be 50 yards away from my phone, but it becomes very liberating to be able to leave something like that and experience the world around you.
James Petrossi: I love it. Super insightful. Wonderful. You've been such an awesome guest and you've brought up so many amazing themes that we can carry through us about reconnecting with the essence of being human, sharing those micro moments in joy and just making sure that. We're active participants and appreciating all the players that are on the stage of life with us.
Thank you so much. Really, really appreciate you've been such a great guest.
Eric Artell: You, James.