I am a millennial who uses social media, and I will be the first to admit that it can be a distraction in my life. Although I don't post incessantly, I spend more time than I should mindlessly scrolling through my Instagram feed or getting lost in endless memes on Facebook. Yes, these are ways that social media contributes to distracting me, but honestly I'm just an easily distracted person.

As I began my second semester of grad school, I decided to quit social media for as long as I needed in order to center my focus both educationally and spiritually. Assuming social media was the main culprit, this seemed like a brilliant idea. It lasted a month. Which is honestly impressive if you ask me.

After a month, I decided to add social media back into my life, and not because I missed it, but because I somehow managed to be even less productive without it. During my social media cleanse, I found that instead of reaching to check my phone, I would seek to distract myself in other ways. I ended up getting even less work done than before. This lead to the realization that social media was not the problem.

I believe that social media holds a lot of value in this extremely digital age and has provided a platform upon which many individuals and organization have built their success. Social media is simply not going away any time soon, and although it can be a source of distraction for some, it can also be a source of creative outlet and inspiration for others.

Inevitably, humans in this day and age are easily distracted because of the wide accessibility of technology and inundation of digital media that we experience. This began with the advent of technology and cannot be attributed solely to the use of social media.

While I understand that social media is abused by many and can have negative implications, I don't think it is the real issue.

We, as humans, ultimately have the power to choose how we are going to use the tools that we are given. Social media can be extremely productive and a means for good, so long as we choose to use it in that way. Instead of trying to cut something out of our lives in hopes of bettering ourselves, we should just embrace this tool and learn how to use it in moderation. Social media is here to stay, so we may as well get with the program.