Wake up. Check your phone. In class. Check your phone. Eat lunch. Check your phone. A friend is right in the middle of talking to you. Check your phone. Having dinner with your family. Check your phone. Going to sleep. Check your phone.

Every day this cycle continues for so many children and young adults in the world. We must come to terms with what we're dealing with here -- an addiction.

Facebook, Snapchat and Instagram are the culprits that hinder our view of reality and create a disconnection to those around us, the opposite of what the founders and creators of these social media monopolies intended.

Some of my friends and peers have fallen victi to this sickness - this trap - of searching for their value through Instagram. You're flooded with pictures of everyone else's happy little lives. Of course people aren't going to show the world their tough times or not-so-flattering poses. We only witness glimpses of a seemingly perfect life.

Meanwhile, we worry if we aren't getting enough likes or followers and judge others who aren't either. "Oh no...is there something wrong with my photo? Do I even look good in it?" So you change the caption a million times and go through countless filters to produce a distorted, unnatural version of yourself. Yet, the only one you're being untrue to is you.

No matter what level of obsession you possess with social media, it's all negatively impacting our mental and even physical health. Gluing our eyes to a screen with artificial light beaming into our faces for hours does a number on our vision, whether it's eye pain or increasing our prescription at our next eye doctor's visit.

Maybe the change you seek in your life starts with freeing yourself from the chokehold that social media has on you. It may not be our fault that we are constantly bombarded with an overload of stimuli. But that doesn't mean we have to let it consume our time.

This academic year, distance yourself from your phone when you can help it. Don't focus on other people's journeys. Prioritize all your energy on bettering yourself and reaching for your own goals and dreams.

If you still choose to actively be on social media, then share things that matter to YOU and that make YOU happy, not pictures or posts to please someone else. It's not worth it. Social media isn't even a real entity. What's real is your time here on this earth and the experiences you make with those around you.

When you aren't exposed to excessive nonsense or shallow vanity, aka the stuff of Instagram, it leaves more space in your brain to fill with meaningful things. Instead of using social media to make endless announcements and bragging to feed your ego, use it for good -- inspiration, creativity and awareness. Use it to spread love.