If you're around my age or older, I'm sure you remember the good old MySpace days. If you had a MySpace, I'm sure you searched for rad layouts and glitter gifs that froze everyone's computer... which made them instantly regret ever clicking on your profile.

MySpace was a way of socializing without, ya know, actually having to be social. And I truly wonder if we would have the variety of social media sites we have today if it wasn't for MySpace.

Social media has changed the world. Like anything, there are pros and cons to everything. But have we gone overboard?

Has social media affected our ability to live in the moment?

I truly believe it has for most people.

I believe social media is amazing at bringing people around the world together. It is a great place to tell stories and have your stories be heard. It's a way to see how distant relatives and friends are doing. Heck, it's probably how you found this article, so for that, I'm thankful. It gives me a way to be heard.

But then, there are the people who are addicted. The people who use social media to portray themselves differently. The people who crave the attention that often comes along with social media.

Let's take a second to think about all the different types of social media we have. We have Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, and... Sarahah?

Sarahah is an app where people can anonymously leave messages to people. Can I just be blunt for a second?

Why in the hell do we need that?

The sudden popularity of this app has solidified everything I have come to realize about social media the past few years. It solidifies that we care WAY too much about what people think of us. What could we possibly be hoping to get out of Sarahah?

I remember in high school, ASKfm was huge. And I also remember it was a great outlet for people to anonymously cyber bully people. Sarahah is basically the same concept. And I don't know why people do it to themselves.

Okay, maybe not everyone is getting negative feedback. Let's say that they even receive nice compliments a lot of the time.

Why do people need to fish for compliments and rely on strangers or friends to anonymously boost their confidence for 20 minutes?

The same people I see advertising their Sarahah accounts are also the ones who I later see complaining about getting their feelings hurt over what someone anonymously hiding behind a computer screen said to them.

I see young girls and women who seem to be appalled by the amount of boys and men who sexually degrade them. In so many ways, it makes me absolutely sick.

There's so much wrong in it.

There's wrong in the fact that people are anonymously saying these types of things and it's wrong that we even give them the chance to say them.

I'm no social media prude, I just believe a lot of people have prioritized getting approval from strangers... over living in the moment with the people who are physically with them.

People at concerts are too busy documenting the whole thing to really experience the music. I've seen families at dinner who sit silently on their phones. It amazes me that people turn to social media for validation when they could be making real life memories that validate them more than a virtual world ever could.

Hear me when I say, "moments validate us, not likes."

The memories we make, the way we love and get to know people, and the way we see the world validate us. Anonymous messages and likes from people we barely know don't validate us.

Put your phone down and live in the moment.