Everyone knows the situation, your sitting in your friend’s room, you have been there for maybe 30 minutes, so the regular rundown has already taken place. And now, you sit with your friends in silence as a blue light reflects across everyone’s faces. Sucked in. I remember looking around the room as a sat in my friend’s bedroom; I did not meet eyes with anyone. I thought about leaving the room but I probably would have been halfway to my car before anyone noticed, I definitely did think about slapping the phone out of their hands, got pretty close and you probably have too.

I know the feeling, the constant competition that we have with our screens and everyone else’s. How crazy is that? In a study conducted in Canada it revealed that the average attention span of a teenager is nine seconds, yes that is humorous but is also a very serious concern. In another study by the global tech protection and support company, Asurion concluded that the average teenager checks their phone 80 times a day. It’s a coping mechanism. I would even go as far as to say addiction. So, how can it impact our social lives?

It is pretty crazy to imagine spending a day without your phone. I know you probably panicked just reading that. If you think about it, you look at your phone more often than you probably look someone in the eyes each day. But how can social media affect your friendships when you have over 1,000 friends on Instagram? In reality, you actually have a personal limit of 150 friends. What I have learned is someone could have 1,000 followers and still feel like the loneliest person in the world.

No one is going to give up social media. for most of us, it has a sense of security. It can be a comforting place but yet we find social media in the middle of our problems. I mean your “friends” are on there, well your fake friends. Though understandably many use social media to reach out to those who far away from them and can be a great way for people to stay connected but in most cases, it causes more harm than good.

In order to create healthy relationships among your friends, one should even out the amount of time they spend talking online and in person. In my opinion, this creates a better bond. Taking an absence from social media than having people contact you via text message is also a healthy practice. Or, if you want to go full on 70’s you could not use your phone at all around your friends; my own preferred method is a bucket at the door. It may be hard to separate yourself from your online presence but I promise you will notice that the relationships in your life will just grow stronger.