When did a friendship become defined by a streak on Snapchat? And how did our worth become determined by our number of followers?

Our generation is too consumed by the lives we live through our screen, and not invested enough in creating authentic relationships with others.

Every aspect of our lives are now controlled by social media because people are obsessed with knowing what others think about them. But the moment we start changing ourselves, because we don’t think we are presentable enough, is the moment we lose. If more people used their media for building others up then social media would have a very positive impact on our society.

But it doesn’t. And we refuse to make that change because, as sad as it is, it is so much easier to post an anonymous hate comment than walk up to somebody and give them a meaningful compliment.

Think about the app Sarahah for a minute. For those who don’t know what that is, it is an app that was created simply to give others “anonymous feedback” on their page. The app quickly blew up among some younger age groups. Although the creator’s intentions were probably good, the app was primarily used as a cyber bullying platform. And, sadly, that’s what ends up happening in a lot of cases. Apps like this that allow anonymous comments and opinions open the doors to on-line harassment. And what’s worse is that we are fully aware of the end result when we create our account.

So why do we continue to voluntarily tear ourselves down by creating more and more of these accounts? It all goes back to being obsessed with other people’s image of ourselves.

No matter how much you think you are posting for yourself or for fun, it is all influenced by other people. We are tricked into thinking that we are making our own bold decisions, but a social life created by our expanse of social media accounts does not allow for free thinking. And no matter how much we deny it, the things we see on social media affect how we see ourselves and the world around us.

We allow tweets to tell us what is true and what we should believe. And we let so many false claims pass as true because our thoughts are being influenced by what we see on-line. Creating our own judgments requires too much work, so we fall into the habit of hopping on every bandwagon that comes along.

The huge presence of social media in our lives is creating a distant and disconnected society.

Think for a second on how different our community would be if we took social media out of the equation. I bet a lot of people initially thought about losing your 400-day snap streak. But what gain does having that streak give you?

That’s right, nothing. The only type of prize someone gets from having a long streak is maybe an emoji by their friend’s name. A Snapchat streak simply serves as a way to draw you into the app. But spending time with a friend in person holds so much more meaning and is so much more memorable.

Our generation is becoming too reliable on technology, and as a result a lot of friends we make are people we meet on social media. But in the end, it is the ability to have an open conversation with a friend face-to-face that matters.