Since freshman year of high school, my morning routine has been the same. I wake up, pour myself a Diet Mountain Dew or sweet tea depending on my mood, and instantly check my texts and social media from the night before. When I started this, it was a way for me to feel caught up in the beginning of my day. I responded to all my text messages, started with my morning plans, and got a good idea of what had happened in the hours I had been asleep. The apps may have changed, but my habits are basically the same today.

I'd like to preface this article by saying that there is no one who loves being “plugged in" more than me. I love social media as a platform to keep up with the lives of friends and loved ones who are too far to see every day. Twitter and Facebook are a great source for the funny videos and pictures we all love, and I'll admit that they are the primary way I'm made aware of major news and current events. In all these ways, social media helps many in our generation stay “social" even through the moments in life between classes and coming home from work when we are most isolated.

With all the positives, at some point our social culture went through a huge shift. Instead of walking into a party or a friend's house to people interacting, it's likely they will be scrolling through their news feeds or Snapchatting what's happening rather than actually enjoying it. Even if they're not actively on social media, so many of our conversations are based on talking about what we've seen or heard lately via social media. It's almost as if we would rather other people have a certain perception about our popularity, our attractiveness, our intelligence, our relationships, or our success than we would actually want to achieve those “goals."

Which leads me to pose the question: why? Why do we value others' opinions so much that we would rather have them think we have great lives, than actually live them? Why do we allow the number of likes and Snapchat stories we are included in determine our self-worth? Why do we put so much pressure on our significant others to behave a certain way so that we can share conversations that are meant to be intimate? If nothing about our lives is private, what makes those moments special?

I started this summer with a goal to make memories that I don't necessarily share with everyone, but only the people they are made with. If more people of my generation would make a conscious decision to live more genuine lives outside of their phone screens, we might see a change in the way our world functions. We could get back to the humanity in real conversation, and relearn how to sit through an awkward moment or uncomfortable class presentation without escaping into the solitude that makes up our “social" lives. There is so much out there to see in the world, and I promise they are even more beautiful without a filter.