the millennials who were groomed by the internet: my story, jay-z and diddy

The early internet was chaos—a digital Wild West with no rules, no boundaries, and no protection. It was a breeding ground for predators, a place where manipulation could flourish unseen. Millennials were the first generation to grow up online, left to navigate this unregulated landscape with no roadmap. We were told to look out for the creepy man in the van, but no one warned us about what happens when the man doesn’t need a van—when he’s behind a screen, building trust in ways no one knew to look for. In this episode of Back From the Borderline, I share my personal story of walking the edge of the music industry’s darkest realities—an experience that mirrors the cultural reckoning sparked by recent allegations against Sean “Diddy” Combs and Jay-Z. These stories aren’t isolated. They reflect how systemic power, celebrity worship, and the internet combined to create a perfect storm, leaving young people vulnerable in ways we’re only now beginning to understand. We’ll unravel how a culture that glamorized power and silence enabled these dynamics to thrive. It wasn’t just the internet or the industry—wider society had no problem with the way young women were sexualized and exploited, shrugging it off as the price of ambition or desire. Our parents may not have seen the full scope of what was happening, but the culture around them did—and stayed quiet. Now, decades later, the same generation that told us to stay silent is feigning outrage over the very scripts they helped normalize. This is a story about more than individual predators. It’s about systems designed to protect the powerful and the cultural blind spots that let exploitation flourish in plain sight. It’s also about how those systems are starting to crack. The same internet that once made us easy prey is now a tool for exposing the rot, amplifying survivors’ voices, and shining light on the shadows that have lingered too long. There’s no neat resolution here. But if anything, this conversation is a reminder: We were set up to believe nothing was wrong, and waking up to that is the first step toward reclaiming what was taken from us.Craving more? Become a Premium Submarine. Join an exclusive community and unlock hundreds of hours of members-only content: full-length episodes, deep-dive series, guided meditations, and more—all for the cost of a couple of coffees a month. Start exploring at backfromtheborderline.com. acast+ https://plus.acast.com/s/back-from-the-borderline. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Om Podcasten

I don’t want to talk to your personality; I want to talk to your soul. Imagine if your most painful and debilitating mental health symptoms and self-sabotaging behaviors aren’t evidence of 'disorder' or 'dysfunction', but adaptive strategies that once kept you safe. My goal is to help you shift from asking ‘What’s wrong with me?’ to ‘What happened to me?’The word ‘borderline’ in this podcast isn’t about psychiatric labels. It’s about coming back from the inner psychological brink we all experience. Everyone has found themselves on the edge, in that liminal space where the old self falls apart and the new Self emerges. Here, we explore what it means to undergo true emotional alchemy: that ancient and primordial process of falling apart, confronting the underworld of our psyche, and falling back together into someone stronger, wiser, and more whole.Many highly sensitive people who identify with the seemingly never-ending list of diagnostic mental health labels contained within ‘the bible of psychiatry’ (the DSM) share the same underlying sense of being irreparably broken, disconnected from their intuition, and paralyzed by life’s existential questions. I believe the resulting—and perfectly understandable—chronic feelings of emptiness and spiritual starvation are the TRUE causes of our current collective ‘mental health crisis.’ Together, we’ll dive into depth psychology, mythology, human consciousness, critical psychiatry, and the impact of trauma to help you begin the process of emotional alchemy. This exploration will help you get to the root cause of your suffering and free yourself from the toxic shame, limiting beliefs, and mental programming that have kept you locked in the chains of your past.In an era where mental health and spirituality are too often commercialized, I’m not here as a guru with a quick fix to sell you. I don’t believe anyone is ever truly ‘healed’ or ‘cured.’ There is no return to some mythical state of pre-trauma purity, but rather a continuous spiral of unbecoming, unlearning, and transformation. As a fellow seeker, I will be there in your ear, walking alongside you on your path toward wholeness as a sort of parasocial big sister. That, I can promise. By integrating the concepts we explore together, you’ll begin to see that anyone—even you—can come back from the borderline.CRAVING MORE? Visit backfromtheborderline.com to dive into my universe, connect with me, access my Patreon, and discover more about my journey and work. Don’t forget to follow Back from the Borderline so new episodes on Tuesdays and Thursdays automatically drop into your podcast feed. acast+ https://plus.acast.com/s/back-from-the-borderline. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.