Snapchat is probably the most recent and innovative way to keep in touch with friends, especially those that live far away. The freshest, hottest way to send pictures... interpret that how you see fit.

It's the best approach to stalk friends when you don't know where they are and want to make sure they are alive, depending on how creepy you are feeling. It's the easiest way to see someone's face when you miss them. You gotta save that streak, always. It's the most accessible tool you can use to make yourself look better when you're not feeling so hot. It's the handiest app available when you want to keep up with the news in real time by watching the stories. It's the cutest way to send your friends the articles and blurbs that remind you of them, especially the fun puns.

But most importantly, it is the finest way to feel like you're involved in somebody's life via their story all in instant time.

Who wouldn't want this?

I'll be honest. It's all about your perspective.

I've had a Snapchat for approximately the past 6 years--even before I had an iPhone (when I used my iPod Touch to send unattractive, grainy photos to my classmates just to make new best friends--SHHH).

I was always an advocate for the app that had changed social media for the better, but somewhere along the way, it started chipping away at me and I let it, without even realizing it. It began to silently define my worth because I could barely put my phone down due to a condition that I didn't know even know I had developed.

It's the app that revolutionized using FOMO to their advantage.

For those that are living under a rock, FOMO stands for the FEAR OF MISSING OUT.

FOMO is a real thing, even though I never wanted to admit it. I felt it every time I would watch someones individual Snapchat and wasn't with them and wanted to be. I felt it every time I watched someone's story and wasn't with a group of people that I associated myself with. That's the natural human reaction.

In these instances, a small bit of my self-esteem was chipped away at. It's not something I like to admit, but it's true. That happened. This was the case early on in college.

Time rolled on and I really found myself always questioning why I even had Snapchat anymore because I wasn't using it as much. I had such a love, hate relationship with it because I didn't want to get rid of it and not be able to "keep in contact" with my friends. I didn't want to feel left out.

At this point though, I had found my way to discovering the value I carried within myself, and yet this app was always there--lighting up my phone, tempting me to open the notification instantly, making me feel guilty/inadequate if I didn't answer right away.

This time it wasn't about how I saw myself. It was about my self-control and the effect Snapchat was having on it. Although FOMO was still a real thing for me, I always felt like Snapchat was controlling the amount of time I was spending on certain things, especially school and the quality of my relationships. It distracted me from the other things in my life that I felt like I had been neglecting for long enough.

It was driving me crazy. So I deleted it.

I can honestly say, I don't miss it.

I've tried reactivating it a few times, but for some reason, I can't hold myself to keeping it yet.

In short, it was a choice for me--choosing to be down one social media platform.

Some people would say that my choice means that I'm choosing to drop off the face of the planet. Electing to drift away from modern technology and fall behind the curve.

I don't see it like that.

For me, it's about making choices that I believe really are for the best. Because we all make them.

How we go about them is different, but in the end, we all make the decisions that change us.

So no.

I'm not dropping off the face of the planet, and I'm not choosing to distance myself from the people on my snap list.

I'm simply choosing a snap free life.

One where I don't feel the urge to constantly pick up my phone to respond. One where I'm not aware of when people open my messages . One where I'm not overwhelmed by the possibility that if I don't know exactly know what's happening in all of my friends lives in that instant, that's it's okay because it doesn't change the value of our friendship.One where I can freely and more easily choose the things that are right there in front of me instead of what's lighting up my phone screen all the time.

Life has so much meaning. People have so much to give.

And that is so much more clear to me without Snapchat in my life.

It's my choice. & there's nothing wrong with that.

On the contrary, I don't think there's anything wrong with having it either. It's just not for me in this moment in time.

But please, don't call a life without Snapchat barely surviving. Because for some people, they would say they are indifferent to not having it and may even thrive without it.

Because in all honesty, without it, I have been able to be reminded of the things life gave me before the app was even in existence. And that's been the most precious gift.