Social media has blown up in the last half decade. Yes, while Facebook started up in 2003 as a platform for people across the country (at the time) to find each other and communicate and stay in contact, since about 2011, social media sites have exploded. Apps like Snapchat, Instagram and Twitter began to dominate the manner in which we can connect. Instantly.

Why is it that 2.8 million teens ages 12-17 have had one depressive episode in 2014? Why is it that 10-15% of teens have shown symptoms of teen depression amongst all of the communication on social media sites? Why is it that studies have shown that high school studies have similar anxiety than that of mental health patients? Why is it that suicide rates have surged to an all time high? Isn't friendship supposed to make us a happier human being?

Something is up.

What is it, you may ask? Well, social media is NOT a substitute for face-to-face interaction. In fact, it can be a dangerous subset of human interaction and the consequences are endless.

When I was younger, I sent texts to friends in middle school. Texting was cool back in the day, it was fairly new, but the social norms were already constructed. We often texted people we otherwise would not speak to. Well, it so happened I didn't know how to handle texting people and not interacting with them, and I was taken aback when people I texted and was apparently cool with, talked that mess behind my back and openly made me look bad. I had thought we were friends. How naive.

You may ask, what can come from this?

A feeling of social disparity, confusion, an absence of self-worth and being devoid of that face-to-face interaction we spoke about all add up. - on top of anxiety in school and separation from "friends" from trying to fit in too hard are all a recipe for disaster.

Social media will never be a substitute for human interaction.