Nest Session: Yvette Young on Internet Stalkers

Yvette Young, a musician and songwriter, tells host Rob that when she was a teenager, she was hospitalized after her heart stopped working. She had developed anorexia, a condition she traces directly to the pressure of competing in classical music. "Music isn't meant to be enjoyed that way," she says. "It's not something that you use to beat other people down." Guitar became the first thing she ever chose for herself. She taught herself to play by learning Creed riffs and later discovered alternate tunings through bands like American Football. That self-taught instrument, she says, saved her life.

The shift from private art to public exposure

Young had no interest in social media. She was "anti-social media" and suspicious of platforms stealing data. But a student she was helping with college applications made her an Instagram account and told her she was "super dumb for not being on social media." Young started posting guitar videos, but she was self-conscious about being a woman in a male-dominated genre. She cut her head out of the frame and wore a big frumpy sweater so no one could tell she was a girl. The video blew up anyway. That initial anonymity gave her a foothold, but it also opened a door she could not close.

The escalation from online to physical stalking