I’m not going to tell you to put your phone down when you’re eating at the table. I’m not going to tell you to quit Facebook for one or two days, or, heaven forbid, quit all social media for the time being. Rather, for the moments you are not hunched back and scrunching your eyes at the backlight rose gold iPhone 6S screen, take time to appreciate what’s around you, as cliche as that sounds.

Whenever I’m walking on the streets, my mom will most definitely look over to see if I’m avoiding my surroundings by being sucked in by the latest Facebook notification. She’ll tell me, “Don’t look at your phone while you’re walking! You might get hit by a car!” And you know what? She’s definitely right.

But that’s not everything. There are times when instead of enjoying a morning hike, I would instead stop and snapchat the perfect photo instead of smelling the pollen and complaining about the sweat.

Looking back now, I was validating my existence and my life through social media. If I wasn’t on Facebook liking every post or on Snapchat updating my story with added geofilters, what was I really doing? It made me lose a sense of what was real and what was not. That’s when I realized that I hadn’t been admiring the outside world, apart from my electronics.

A lesson learned, I have since been more detached from social media, but that doesn’t mean I have completely cut it off. I still visit Facebook and Snapchat often, but once the app is closed and my phone is locked, I do not think twice about my recent notifications or updated Snapchat stories. I look toward the present day and enjoy the events that are unfolding around me. I implore you all to do the same, to not only appreciate the latest news on social media, but to also relish the experience that is life.