I was born in 1998, right as instant messaging on one’s home computer was taking off. Little did anyone know, by the time I was 10 in 2008, people would be talking without borders and hesitation. As a result, I do not know a life without instant and continual communication. Except, continual might be a stretch. Rather, the possibility of continual communication is probably more fitting because I am not talking to someone every second of every day.

Some days, I manage to not actually engage with a single person, even though I have over 300 contacts, full of people that have influenced me one way or another throughout my life, and have nearly 1,000 followers on my social media. Some days, nobody answers my texts until the night, even if I texted them at 9 a.m. Some days, I feel completely alone in the Age of Connectivity.

Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat, iMessage, FaceTime, and so many other apps have been created with the goal of keeping its users connected, whether they live 15 minutes away or 15 hours away. There is ALWAYS someone doing something fun and exciting on social media, whether its 2 a.m. or 2 p.m. These apps were created to keep us in touch and updated with our loved ones (and HAPPY for them and all the fun things they’re doing), but oftentimes the exact opposite happens.

You find yourself sitting in bed watching Netflix and scrolling through Instagram just to see all the cool and exciting things the people you follow are doing. You see pictures of people’s exotic vacations and study abroad experiences--you feel like you’re missing out. Worst of all, you see your loved ones doing things without you. Things that you weren’t invited to or couldn’t go to. There’s something about watching the people you love have a great time without you that hurts and makes you feel down.

And wow, break ups. It’s such a struggle to break up with someone in this age. You can break up, but they always manage to pop up onto your phone. Sometimes you forget to unfollow them on that one social media site and their face appears and tugs at your heartstrings a little too hard. Or worse, the first time a picture of them with someone else shows up on your timeline. Nothing quite like that to remind you at 2 a.m. how you’re laying in bed alone.

For this reason, I believe we are somehow the most connected, yet loneliest generation. We have SO many people tuned into our lives via social media and other sharing apps, but it stops there. Nobody ever sits down with you over a coffee to talk about how your study abroad experience went in Europe for a semester, they just like the pictures and albums you upload. You swear you are going to see that one friend over break after he texts you on your birthday and you catch up over text for a few minutes, but you never do. But you see him hanging out with ten different people over break instead.

The funny thing is, there’s no need to feel lonely. We literally have the world at our fingertips. We just don’t appreciate what that means. Make those plans with that one friend and send them an invite on Google Calendars so it’s set in stone. Comment on all your friends’ pictures and let them know you’re

really there. Make a time to FaceTime your friends weekly while you’re at college. Do whatever it takes to erase that feeling of being alone, because all these awesome communication tools were not made for that. They were made to make you feel more appreciated and loved than you thought possible, by people miles and miles away, or just a few steps away.