Social media has a strong influence in your everyday life and occupies almost every person you come across mentally. It makes communication happen in less than 5 seconds, but is that really a good thing? No, it’s not.

Today’s society can be described as dominated by their cellular devices being that on average, people in the United States of most age groups check their phones 46 times per day, according to Deloitte.com. Addiction to devices is probably something even the biggest introvert couldn’t ignore.

The question that must be asked out loud is what are the long term effects of increased online interactions? “People would rather do everything on a screen instead of go out there and truly experience their lives themselves. This makes society dependent on social media,” said Caudilina Roer, junior.

Emily Muellenburg, social studies teacher, is someone who knows the struggle of having the media constantly be a distraction. She said, “I think it’s really nice to see kids connected. It gives them a chance to share a side of themselves that they maybe don’t always get to in class. But I do think that it overall consumes them, and they’ve lost a little bit of the ability to connect and interact face to face”.

Our generation has become in a way brainwashed and overtaken by technology. In fact,  online use has advanced so much that instead of being called the ‘baby boomers’  or even ‘Generation X’, we are going to be named the ‘Generation Like’ millennials.

I urge anyone reading this to try setting your phone down for one whole day, just one, and embrace everyone you hold dear around you in conversation and go out and live in the moment. You may be surprised at the outcome and how much your relationships in your life prosper because of it.

Kashia Baca, Staff Reporter