With the amount of technology we have at our fingertips in this day and age, the world is truly our oyster. We are able to communicate with people across the world in a matter of seconds, and the technology we have is only expanding. Some cars can drive themselves for goodness sake. This has drastically changed how the world works and how we function in society on a daily basis.

However, what I’ve noticed especially in the past couple years, is that millennials have lost sight of what technology is really made for. It makes our lives drastically easier, yes. But it is NOT, I repeat NOT intended to be used solely for posting your selfies on Instagram or the drama in your life on Twitter and Facebook.

Don’t get me wrong, I am more than guilty of this myself, as I am almost positive everyone in this generation is too.

Even as I’m writing this, I check my phone to see if it’s lit up in the last couple minutes.

That’s the point that this generation has gotten to. Our phones are always in our hands, and we are constantly refreshing/checking our social media to see what other people are up to.

So I have decided to talk about and hopefully make it clear that social media has created what I like to call (S/O to my boyfriend Nick for coming up with this name for real though) “The Antisocial Social Media” epidemic.

1. You document everything you are doing from hanging out with friends, to your family vacay, to what you're eating for dinner.

This is NOT to say that you shouldn’t share your experiences of your incredible trip to Spain with your family and friends that can’t be there. That was the whole point of why social media was created in the first place. It was created to share your life with friends and family that are not able to experience your life on a daily basis or first-hand, due to long-distance, but we end up over-sharing at times. Actually most of the time.

2. The concept of social media has led us to disconnect from the present moment that we SHOULD be focusing on.

With the ability to connect with all different kinds of people, from all around the world, with the simple touch of our iPhones, we have become obsessed with constantly being up-to-date on everything that is going on at ALL times. This causes everyone (again, all of these include myself) to give more attention to the news feeds of our apps and what our friends are doing, than to the people and things around us.

3. Worrying about what other people are doing ALL THE TIME can cause an unnecessary amount of stress.

One of the first things I do, and many people do, in the mornings is check my phone. I scroll through Twitter and Facebook as if they were the morning paper of this technology centered generation. I check Snapchat stories to see what all of my friends were doing last night and then subconsciously I compare my life to others. What did I miss out on while I was at work? Or doing homework? Or hanging with my family? It shouldn't be a competition to see if what you are doing is better than what anyone else is doing, and we probably don't mean to do this, but that's what ends up happening unfortunately. We stress about things that don't matter simply because that is what we choose to focus on.

4. "Think before you post" is definitely not a thing anymore.

I learned in my business class this past semester that "60% or more of people will be denied for a job before they even get a chance to interview due to one or more aspects that are deemed negative/inappropriate because of their social media presence." If that statistic enough doesn't scare you into thinking twice about posting that picture of you underage drinking (no matter how cute the Insta would be) I'm not sure what will. Although other people your age may not think twice about what they post, just know it will bite them in the butt someday. And that someday may come sooner than you think. Social media is an amazing aspect of our society and it's made possible by the technology we have created that is only getting more and more advanced. But remember, with this more capable technology, there are more ways that future employers can easily find out what you did in your college glory days.

5. The presence of social media makes both men and women use their profiles to show people who they "really" are.

I don't know about you but when I was 14 I was super awkward and my selfies were probably laughable because of the poor quality of the pixels from the picture on my flip phone. That and they were way too up close and personal. Or they were the dreaded mirror selfie. But that's another issue all together. These days I see 14-year-olds on Twitter with their makeup done better than I could ever do, dressed better than I am, complaining about how they are heartbroken they don't look like a Kardashian, even though they bought the Kylie lip kit. This is so sad to me. These girls are barely going to be freshman in high school and they are rushing to grow up and be a "woman." This has changed so much from when I was a kid. We used to play outside, not on our phones or the computer.

6. The social media epidemic in the fashion/beauty and pop culture industries have created unobtainable standards of beauty.

The way the media has changed and adapted to advertise to consumers on social media platforms they know millennials are active on, is specifically targeted to create feelings of jealousy and envy over a model's beauty in the campaign. Chances are the ad is heavily photo shopped and far from the original image, but the only thing we as consumers see is the finished outcome. This ties into my last point. Kids feel as if they need to change themselves in order to fit into society at such a young age. I feel as if social media is forcing kids to grow up much faster than they should. It also makes people feel bad about themselves because we can't all look like a Victoria's Secret angel. Instead of focusing on things that normal teenagers should be worried about, now we have to factor in that we must also worry about the way other people view us from our profiles.

7. There is so much out there in the world to experience, that can be better appreciated if we live in the present.

I cannot tell you how many times I have seen people at a party, sitting in the corner on their phones. They aren't interacting with their friends even though they finally got their butt off the couch and out of the house. I know from personal experience that people complain all the time, especially in Arizona about not ever having anything to do. But the ironic part about that statement is that when there are things to do, and a group of us get together to hangout, we still dedicate part of our time together to documenting what we are doing. Does this even make any sense when you really think about it? NO. ABSOLUTELY NOT. It's actually hilarious when you spell it out for people. Go on a hike and leave your phone in the car. People have seen the top of Camelback Mountain before and if you tell people that you hiked it, I guarantee they will take your word for it. Yes, even without a picture for proof.

8. We can use social media for more positive things than what we have resorted to posting instead.

How many times have you seen breaking news on Twitter/Facebook about what is going on in the world that you otherwise would be oblivious to? I know that most of the news and information I read comes from articles or posts I see myself on social media. This is not to say that these platforms are reliable sources of news but they are one of the most effective in spreading emergency or important information quickly and to a large audience of varying demographics. We have all heard of missing children being found much more quickly by spreading the word on the Internet rather than through news channels on TV. iPhones even have a loud alarm that goes off when there is an emergency such as a storm warning or an Amber Alert. We should continue to focus our efforts to better the world by posting things that are not only relevant to OUR lives, but the lives of other people and what is going on in the world around us. Even a slight education on issues going on could change the world, it only takes one person to start this.

9. The ways in which we communicate have been effected by our social media presence.

"Mhm." This is what most people say as they are half listening to the conversation that they are having with the person in front of them while simultaneously scrolling through their Twitter feed. If you analyze the way in which people interact with others now, in public or at home, you will notice the drastic change from what life used to be like even 10 years ago. Couples go to dinner and you can see they are both on their phones, too caught up in their own thing to even acknowledge one another and cherish the time that they are spending together on a date. COME ON PEOPLE. Or what I find the most appalling is when families come into my work to eat dinner and their children come in toting their iPads with heavy duty non-breakable cases that they keep their nose in the entire time. These electronic devices have turned into toys for children that parents use to keep them from misbehaving. I am all for children having a cell phone for safety reasons in this day and age but toddlers do not need to be spending the entirety of their family dinner engaged in their game. This goes for all ages, including teenagers and young adults. We are all guilty of spending way too much time engaged in our phones.

10. Social media has turned into the exact opposite of what it was originally intended for.

It is actually called SOCIAL media.

But that is the exact opposite of what people are doing with these apps and websites. These inanimate profiles that barely give the world a peep into the type of person you really are, dominate the way that we live our lives. We have to post pictures and videos of ourselves doing normal things that we do anyways on a daily basis. We have to tweet about things that are #relevant and #trending. But why are we letting social media inhibit our actual social lives from being as entertaining and fulfilling as we portray them to be? We need to learn that it is about living in the moment. Social media is so new and integrated into this generation that it's rare to find people who aren't active on at least Facebook.

It is a powerful tool, but we must learn to control it rather than let it control us. In the end, it won't matter how many likes you got on your Instagram, or how many people viewed your Snap-story. I think that documenting specific moments with pictures and videos so you can look back on milestones in your life is so important. And it is such a gift that we have the technology to capture moments the way that we do now. Pictures from your past can tell you and others so much about the events/people/things going in your life at that time and you will appreciate it in the future.

All I'm saying is take a step back, focus on what's really important in life, and maybe instead of posting everything online: Take a vacation where you don't get cell service, enjoy spending quality time with your friends and family, or worry about yourself and what you are doing for once!