In an era filled with iPhones, computers, tablets, Siri, and objects that can talk to us, social media plays a crucial role in today’s society. Without today’s technology, one may say, “Oh my god, I would die without my phone!”

But who’s to say that’s not true? So many people become attached to their phones it’s like losing a leg or another limb on our body. It’s how we “kids” communicate nowadays.

Come on, how is someone supposed to flirt with me without sliding through the DMs (direct messaging)? How am I going to let all my suppressed emotions out without using Twitter? How are my friends going to see my ugly faces and delicious meals without Snapchat? Who’s going to see my cute outfits without Instagram?

How am I going to survive without social media?

We have become a nation held hostage by technology. Many think the world we live in is so unbearable without having social media that our social lives will collapse and we will be overcome with complete boredom without it.

But what happened to those real life experiences that don’t require technology?

So many of us have unconsciously turned ourselves into living robots. When we are around people we are so worried about what is on our phone we fail to really appreciate the moments that lie in front of us.

We ruin that valuable relationship with someone when we turn on our phones at the dinner table, or start texting other people while we’re hanging out with friends. We become distracted and forget the meaning of the present.

I can’t tell you how many time I’ve been in a situation where I’m with people and they start going on their phones. I then go on my phone and it just ends up being two people sitting there on their phones barely talking. Only breaking the silence to say, “Have you seen this Vine?” or “Look at this Snapchat.”

My grandparents use to write love letters to each other after they met in a coffee shop in Germany. But now when you ask someone of this generation, “Oh, how did you guys meet?”  ,you’ll hear, “He DM’ed me.”, or “She Snapchatted me and now we text.” Come on now, people. Can’t we make our lives a little bit more interesting?

What happened to actually going out and meeting people and gaining some real life experiences?

Instead we stay isolated at home with our laptop sitting on our laps, our phone in one hand and a remote in another. Research conducted by GlobalWebIndex suggests the average social media user spends two hours and 25 minutes per day using social networks.

We forget what it is to communicate without using our phones or how to coexist without going on social media.

You may have 300 friends on Twitter and 500 followers on Instagram, but out of the 800 people that surround you online only 10 of those “friends” will come up and say, “Hi.”

The “Look up” video from 2014 said, “This media we call social, is anything but. When we open our computers, and it’s our doors we shut.”

I couldn’t agree more.