In a generation where social media has been present for as long as we can remember, it has become easily taken for granted. We tend to forget the proper use of social media and use it as a diary. Remember the days when you constantly had a Facebook status and it entailed your plans for the next two days and ended with, “Text me!”? Well, as a generation, we should definitely pat ourselves on the back for outgrowing that stage, but the diary aspect of social media is still present. Thanks to fantastic apps such as Timehop, we cannot run from our past selves and those statuses will forever be there to haunt us. However, if we are so embarrassed of that awkward stage in our lives and the things that we wrote for the world to see, why are we still sharing so much unnecessary information via the Internet?

The point of social media is to interact with others in a virtual world. However, we tend not to use the tool to genuinely get to know one another. For example, my best friend conducted an experiment last semester where she had to reach out to people whom she did not know personally and try to get to know them via social media. She was friends with these people in the virtual world, but when she messaged these individuals trying to start a conversation, the people immediately became skeptical and, in some cases, rude. Why did that happen? What’s the difference if you were already friends with this person and they can see all that you post, learning about your life, but can never actually interact with you? Her experiment opened my eyes. You want to share the details of your life with the people you know and your friends, but you forget that everybody can see this information. It is not private to you because social media is not your diary. Do not suddenly become alarmed when somebody reaches out to you because you are posting your whole life for them to see.

The moral of the story is that we are careless about what we post on social media, and in reality, nobody cares what you had for lunch. Getting into a comment war with somebody about politics is all fine and well, but people who you do not know personally can see it and are learning about you. If you do not want the world to know your innermost thoughts, then keep them out of the public domain that is the Internet.

Social media is an awesome way to keep in touch with those who you love. However, there is no need to share your entire life on your Facebook or Twitter. If you want to sincerely let people know what is going on with your life, then go grab a cup of coffee and take a walk together. I often hear people say that they are afraid of living their lives via social media and not actually living it in person. Well, I have a solution for you: don’t let social media replace your daily face-to-face interaction. Get to know the people with whom you are “friends” on Facebook and those who you follow on Instagram. Don’t let your social media contain your entire life. It will discourage creepy people from stalking and will make you seem a lot cooler because you don’t need the constant attention of likes on your picture of your pizza.