You pick up your phone, and you mindlessly check every app of social media you find amusing. Among those, Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter are the first. More recently, Snapchat and Vine are contenders for your attention.The amount of time we spend on just our phones alone is an average of 2+ hours -- and that’s not including the time spent browsing the web or reading digital print, which is a total averaged 5+ hours. More time is spent on a digital device than watching TV.
The year 2013 is the first time ever Americans have surpassed TV time for digital outlet focus, according to adage.com. If you take those 2 hours on your phone, which is the lower end of the mean, and add them all together, that’s 730 hours spent A YEAR with your face glued to an approximately 2x4 inch glass screen. Holy cow. That’s an entire month of your life divided out into days (30.41667 to be exact). The suggested amount of volunteer hours that should be dedicated per year to feel more fulfilled as an individual is only 100 hours, less than a seventh of digital time. 

Granted, these hours may very well be shared simultaneously with other activities such as class, dinner, driving, or even while you’re hanging out with your friends. The latter is where hyper-connectivity really inhibits our abilities to form meaningful connections.
The phrase "less is more" could not be better defined by our usage of social media. Increased presence on these outlets is oftentimes used in such frequency that the focus is not in the moment, but on documenting it simultaneously. Not only does the appreciation for the moment get lost in postings, but the FOMO effect takes full force.
This fear of missing out hits hard when you’re not tagged in a post about a Spring Party or a last minute dinner among friends, or when you’re hardcore stalking your ex. The documentation that takes place of all events in your life leaves little room for privacy, personal space, and enjoyment of your surroundings.  

To prevent any abuse of social media, take these five suggestions into consideration:
1. Let someone else document it. Who cares how many likes you could get off of that picture that in reality looks the same as the last post you made. If you find personal fulfillment from an Instagram post, you need to reevaluate.
2. Have so much fun you don’t even think about posting a tweet, status, snapchat, etc.
3. Pictures never do an outing justice anyways. Especially when it comes to being outside. Nature doesn’t photograph as well as it appears in person.  Almost like a reminder to put that phone down.
4. As common as it is, it is incredibly rude to be on your phone in the presence of any person. Just because you’re comfortable with your surroundings or company doesn’t make it any more polite to have a phone to your face.
5. Don’t be that guy/girl that is in a crowd with their head down looking at their phone. No one likes to be the one who has to say, “What was that? I missed it.” because you were tweeting.  
Social media is not the evil of all evils. Being able to connect in such a way that our generation can is incredibly useful, progressive, and has potential to change the way the world connects on all fronts through means of globalization.