1. The Pros

One of the most infuriating things about social media today, I think, is hearing how much adults hate it.

And with that hate comes the assumption that we're on it all the time and that it's making us dependent on our phones for any fun time at all.

Which, by the way, is woefully untrue.

The thing I've come to love most about social media is that it connects us so much easier to people it would otherwise be awkward to connect with.

Maybe you've noticed, but asking for someone's phone number today seems a more personal thing, and social media offers a medium by which to observe or connect with people you otherwise wouldn't. It opens a whole new world of feeling someone out, exploring their interests, while also allowing you to do the same.

It's a nice way to showcase a person and who they are, and it allows us to be as personal with it as we like. I've formed countless friendships online before meeting in person, and I've made the strongest bonds because of it. Taking away the timelessly awkward first face-to-face meeting gets rid of a barrier we never knew was there until the internet existed without it.

2. The Cons

Now, I want to preface this section by saying I don't hate social media. As previously stated before, I love and utilize all the benefits it has brought about in my life and the ease with which it operates. That being said, I do see a good amount of cons from time to time. When I first started using social media, it was truly thrilling. I was a young, upcoming high-school freshman and Instagram was my teenage playground. I could easily see and talk to my friends, even sometimes connect with people at my school and in my town, I wouldn't normally have the courage to the to.

But the problem I've come to have with social media, especially as I grow older, is the attachment I've subconsciously made to it. I catch myself, all the time spending hours scrolling through it. I'm immersed in it constantly and sometimes and kind find the will to stop myself.

No matter how cliche, I know we all do this from time to time. Another thing I've come across that a lot of us do, is constantly waiting by our phones. Information is linked to us so fast and so efficiently, that we've become dependent on notifications being normal. We live a beautiful — glimmering age of technology that has lulled us into the security of its arms.

We fall asleep with our phones, have them on our person wherever we go, use them any and almost every time we get bored. Social media is so easy to use, that meeting people in real life has seemed to start becoming a second resort. We don't use them interchangeably anymore, but rather prefer meeting people online because it's easier.

But don't allow the internet and social media allow you to become dependent, and unable to conquer the world by yourself. You don't have to take a cleanse from social media to feel good, I just suggest making a limit for yourself day to day.

Make an effort to really talk to people and not respond robotically because you're waiting for a call. Write letters to people who matter fiercely once in a while. Live outside your glassy screen and look up some. You don't have to swear off social media, and you don't have to even view it negatively.

But just keep remembering that all that you are, is not in one little profile, or one person that you're waiting to respond. Remember that social media is a mere mirror to reflect your life upon to the outside world. Your world is out there, waiting for you to experience it for the sole reason that you want to, and not just because you need a picture to post.