Have you heard about the newest organ? I'm not talking about the one that could be in your intestines. I'm talking about your smartphone. Yeah, I know. My smartphone? Just think about it...

How many times in a day do you check your phone? And how many of those times did it actually not vibrate?

More and more, I notice people oblivious to the world outside of their smartphones. People are playing games as they talk to others, scrolling through Facebook and other social media outlets, or Snapchatting at any given time. I have been guilty of some of these things, but now it’s becoming a bit obsessive.

This lack of focus is not seen just in millennials but in all other generations. Teens see the need to Snapchat every moment, capturing their lives in order to find a sense of validation. Older people find relief in playing games, but don’t give their full attention to the conversation that they're in. And regardless of age, it's easy to find more and more people who will scroll through their social media even when they are with someone.

I am guilty of doing this sometimes, regardless if it’s for work, school, sorority, or any other reason. Reasons don’t justify putting aside human interaction. It doesn't justify having your phone out when you could be really experiencing something. More and more, we are becoming disconnected with one another. Technology is the tool that is continually disabling us from being able to communicate. Screens come between us and prevent us from having a real relationship with the people that we care about.

And outside of those relationships, we forget how to relate to other people. Phones give us this incredible barrier between us and the people we talk to. Enabling us to spew hateful words that we really wouldn't say to someone's face. Or we ignore what's going on around us and crash into reality (literally!) and blame the other person for it.

So it’s no wonder some people refer to our smartphones as the “79th organ”. Because as technology improves, we become more attached to our smartphones and all the things that they can do. But the crazy thing is...we don’t need it.

Just as we justify our reasons for being on our phones, the same reasons we give for "needing" the phone at random times is not true. Most people spend about 5 hours of their day on their phones. Let me repeat that for those in the back...

We spend an average of 5 hours of our day on our phones.

What better ways could you have spent those five hours? Spending time with friends, family? Learning a new skill? Going to an event?

We have the constant “FOMO” (Fear Of Missing Out) when we go through social media. But we actually shouldn’t be feeling that. We have tons of opportunities to do all the things that we want to do. And being on your phone isn’t a necessity. In fact, if you just put it away, I guarantee that you won’t miss it.