Belfast TikToker on fame, depression and social media success

Born and raised in Belfast, Ged Armstrong is fast becoming one of Northern Ireland's top social media creators.

At time of writing, he has 46k followers on TikTok, 22k on Instagram, and is about to be flown out to Frankfurt by RedBull to bring his social skills to a global dance competition.

And while it may seem that he's living the dream - flitting from parties to festivals to gigs and back again - the 25-year-old is quick to discuss the mental health struggles that happen behind the scenes, both before and after becoming a self-made success.

"There's definitely a lot that people don't know," he says. "My lifestyle now is very different from when I was growing up. I was in a council estate, and it definitely wasn't a poverty-stricken background, but we didn't have any money."

"We got a name for ourselves," he laughs. "People knew us as the kids that stole breakfast, so yeah, we were around a lot... there were a lot of people with troubled backgrounds, and I consider myself one of those kids. But I always had an interest in creativity which wasn't really the norm. Kids were into sports but I was into breakdancing."

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While studying for his GCSEs, the then 16-year-old discovered a knack for photography. Selling his beloved Pokémon collection online ("it was the most heartbreaking thing I've done in my life"), he bought a camera and started booking local gigs.

"It sounds so cheesy to say but my camera did, genuinely, save my life," he says. "When I was doing my A-levels, me and my mum had a big fall out, so I was kicked out of the house."

Staying with his uncle, he began to isolate himself and struggled through a bad period of depression. During that time, he found editing photos and videos to be a creative outlet, all while attending school and working in Dominos.

"My mentality back then was that I felt like a massive burden looking for hand outs, so I didn't want to ask for anything," he explains. "I was at my absolute lowest, I didn't think I was going to see the age of 20."

Patching things up with his family, he says he wanted to lead a good example for his siblings, and decided to commit to his creativity, opening up about his struggles with mental health in the process.

"It's really only in the last two years that I've got a grip on it," he reflects. "I always try to be authentic as I can on social media. Before I blew up, there were always ups and downs - there still are - but I think I felt so alone then; I was working flat out, so my form of connecting with people was social media."

While many have found Ged's vulnerability and newfound confidence to be inspiring, others have been less than accepting. Becoming well known in a small city has it's disadvantages, with the TikToker recalling nights out where people have shoved into him or thrown water at him.

"The journey has been mad," he muses. "Especially in Belfast, I'm hyper-niche to Northern Ireland. Every video was getting thousands of views and it was all Northern Irish-based so I very quickly got a lot of attention."

"There's a lot more love now than there was in the beginning," he continues. "If you do anything different or out of the ordinary, you're going to get chopped down. For every 90 people, you'll get 10 of those guys, but it's more online than anything."

Building up a resiliency to abusive comments hasn't been easy, but the content creator insists that he now sees the hate as a reflection on the person behind the keyboard rather than himself.

"For every negative comment online, there will be somebody who comes up to me in person who tells me I inspired them to do something creative in their life," he smiles.

Having learned how to deal with the hate, the 25-year-old is now trying to figure out how to handle the rest. From being approached in bars on night's out, to getting a steam of questions about his personal life online, carving out clear boundaries has become a monumental task.

"There's so much going on in the background of my life that no one knows or is aware of," he says. "It's a weird situation of trying to find that balance and figuring out how vulnerable you can really be."

To keep his mental health on track through the bad days, he says he relies on his close circle of friends and family, going to the gym regularly, and exploring his relationship with spirituality.

Ultimately though, it will always be a work in progress.

"There is a lot of good that comes with it but there's a lot of bad, and I sometimes wonder if it's worth the trade off," he admits. "I think now my mission in life is just to try... I just want to be myself, but if I can do one thing, it's to have that small impact on people.

"I want to let them know that s**t can be really bad right now, but if you can start to identify your emotions and make pro-active change, you can make a much better life for yourself. I want to continue telling that story."

If you have been affected by issues raised in this story, please visit: www.rte.ie/helplines.

If you are affected by any of the issues raised in this article, you can contact; The Samaritans (phone 116123).

Belfast TikToker on fame, depression and social media success

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