I wake up, 6 a.m. on a Tuesday and reach, groggy-eyed, for my phone. F**k you, alarm.

OK — now what did I miss over night? Something must have happened in Australia…

Jokes aside, how many of you reach for your phones in the morning and proceed with the following routine: snooze the alarm, check your texts, open Facebook, open Snapchat, open Instagram, open Twitter — open EVERYTHING? Has it become second nature to set our alarms 15 minutes early to account for our perverse desire to stay constantly connected?

Now, let me get one thing clear, I am as addicted to social media as the next 20-something-year-old. And I don’t use the word “addicted” lightly — we really are all addicts. So, what is it that keeps us coming back to these platforms? What is it that drives the insanity of opening one Chrome tab, typing F…A…C…E only to realize that an existing Facebook tab is open six slots to the left? I can’t provide universal answers, but I can provide reasons based on my own personal experience.

There are truly people in whom I am interested. Maybe it’s my college roommate. Maybe it’s my ex-girlfriend. Maybe it’s that radical conservative from high school who’s just joined the Trump campaign. Regardless, some people are personally interesting. But, why?

This is where it gets juicy. For the most part, the people that interest me are not interesting because I enjoy seeing their positive life experiences. In fact, it’s normally the opposite. I know this makes me look like an asshole; but, does it really make me different from you? At the end of the day, I open up social media and it really just pisses me off. At 26, it’s either and endless swipe session of nothingness or posts that remind me of people I used to sleep with, bro who just got married, friend who just went to Europe or another one who got the literally cutest puppy on earth. Oh, and wait, it’s August in an election year — please tell me about your political views.

Whether it’s Facebook or Snapchat, everyone promotes the best (or worst) of themselves on social platforms. What you miss is all the time in between. The make-shift dinners, the hours of independent Netflix watching, the lame bar nights, and the failed first dates.

I am not suggesting we stop using social media — that’s an absurd proposition. It’s way too embedded in our culture. What I am saying is try to realize that other people’s lives have no influence on our own worth. I am saying that we are all independent agents and that it’s cooler to spend your time reading a published book than a published post. I am saying that the 20, 40, 60, 120 minutes that you spend on social media each day could be devoted to wood working, painting, volunteering, music — anything! I am saying that each time you open up a social media app, you lose part of your soul — that you become more amalgams and less unique. Stalking your ex only wastes time that you could use to improve yourself.

And the funny thing, is I am saying all of this to myself…

So tomorrow morning when you wake up, don’t tap that blue F. Just get up. Do your best. Be happy with the person you’ve become and the person who you are going to be. And, above all else, work toward YOUR goals, not those found on your thread.