So you did it. You finally made it. You’re at college and, hopefully, making friends and connections, going to parties and studying hard. For most freshmen, the first few weeks are hectic, and I know that for me, there was rarely ever any free time to think about my home, family and friends.

Now the excitement of a new environment is mostly gone and there is more free time as clubs solidify and class schedules are finalized. Thoughts of your hometown might be creeping in, and you most likely miss the people you grew up with.

I’m here to tell you: you’re not the only one. Right now, I’m curled up in my dorm bed, watching the rain fall outside as my heart aches because my family is 14 hours away. I wish I could be there, telling them about my day and watch movies like we usually did before I came here. Unfortunately, I can’t and won’t until fall break comes around.

Students across the world often feel just like I do. We can’t really control when we feel it, but it could be anything that sets off the feeling: eating something that your mother made for you all the time back home, watching a movie that your friends enjoyed talking about, seeing dogs and assorted other pets that remind you of your own.

When faced with homesickness, students today are afforded a different option that students of past generations never had, however. We have technology far surpassing what any other generation could have dreamed of. Instead of waiting days and possibly weeks for painstakingly written letters or calling home only once a day, we can grab our smartphones and call or text our loved ones. We can FaceTime our best friends and act like we’re sitting in the same room. We can use social media, such as Snapchat, to share memories and funny observations we have in our day-to-day lives with those we connect with.

But does the comfort of technology really help our melancholy feelings? Does being able to “snap” a funny face to share with your best friend make you feel like you’re still there beside them? One could say that the presence of such luxuries only makes homesickness worse.

As we spend so much time trying to connect with those we love, we don’t focus on the present. Our attention is dragged away from our new friends at college, our new experiences, and puts us back in the past with our loved ones at home. In turn, the quality of college life can decline and make us miss home even more as we turn our attention away from what is happening in front of us. College is about embracing a new environment and preparing for the next steps in your life—grad school, internships, and whatever else one might be pursuing—and we can’t fully appreciate this environment if we’re only stuck in the past.

I’m not saying modern technology is a bad human invention, but what I am saying is that we should remind ourselves where we are: we are embarking on a new journey and sometimes, it’s okay to put the phone down and enjoy the present. Keep and maintain connections with your friends and family, but also, make new friends and find yourself in this new place. You’ll thank yourself for it much later, I promise.