Fangirls (and fanboys) are all around you, but a lot of people choose to ignore this population, even though almost everyone has been a part of it at some point in their lives. Before I dive too deep into fangirl-ism and the benefits that I got from joining into the madness, let me explain what exactly a fangirl is.

According to Urban Dictionary, a fangirl is "a fan of something (female) who is obsessed with the said subject to a certain degree (normally unhealthy)." Essentially, a fangirl/fanboy is someone who is hopelessly devoted to a TV show/musician/band/actor/fictional character. While some may take fangirlism to an extreme (like when they show up at said actor's house, obviously uninvited), most of us are just very much so enamored with the fandom: the subject at whom you direct the fangirling and the fellow fangirls.

For an almost shamefully long time, I've been a fangirl for One Direction (a basic choice, I know) and 5 Seconds of Summer (also basic, but I don't even care). Beyond the countless hours of Twitter- and Instagram-stalking, here are a few things that being a fangirl has given me.

1. A better music taste

I know, I know, I know--One Direction, bubble-gum-pop-boyband-extravaganza gave me a better music taste? Yes, they did. See, as a fangirl, I learned the names of the people who were friends with the 1D boys. The first of these was Ed Sheeran. Ed has written many a song for 1D over the years and has been a friend to the band for as long as I've been a fan. I remember asking for Ed Sheeran's album "+" for Christmas one year, and this was back when his music wasn't available in the US (yes, he existed before his singles came here, crazy idea), and my mom had to order it from the UK.

When I went to see 1D on their Take Me Home tour, I fell in love with their opening act's rendition of "Teenage Dream" by Katy Perry. This opening act, 5 Seconds of Summer, was my next obsession. Through reading their Twitter bio's and seeing who they cited as inspirations, I was pushed further into the genre of punk-rock, rock, pop-punk, etc. I began to listen to Mayday Parade, You Me at Six, Green Day, Blink 182--bands that I now call some of my favorites.

My last big step of bettering my music library was when I found a good friend of 5SOS' first single: "Ghost" by Halsey. Halsey became an artist that I recommended to everyone I knew. Her lyrics were the source of many of my Instagram captions.

There are very few artists on my iPod of which I cannot attribute my discovery to 5SOS or 1D.

2. Understanding of time zones

One Direction is British/Irish, and 5SOS is Australian, meaning that if you wanted to watch their LiveStreams/Twitcams while they happened, you had to understand the time that it was in England and Sydney, and the time that it would be where you live. I also maybe, sometimes, would alter my sleep schedule so that the hours when I was awake would line up better with the times during which "the boys" would be online, i.e. actively using Twitter.

3. Less sensitivity to boys in my "real" life

Being "in love" with band members redirected my affection away from boys that I went to school with and toward boys that I hadn't even met. Tommy from 1st period might have a girlfriend, but Harry Styles? Still single and ready to mingle. Besides, Tommy can't sing, he isn't British, he's nowhere near 6', and his mom still picks out his clothes every morning. The sting of hearing the news of Tommy's new relationship is lessened when you check your phone after school and see that cute picture of Harry saved as your phone's wallpaper.

4. A new sense of time

When did this happen--was it before or after Zayn left? What about this one--oh, that was around the time that Luke got his lip pierced. This was right before/right after my One Direction concert. Honestly, in my head, I have a timeline relative to my fangirl experiences: pre-1D, pre-1D album US release, Up All Night, Take Me Home, Haylor, 1D concert, discovering 5SOS, waiting and waiting on 5SOS album... honestly, I could continue. I also happen to have years associated with each of these, and that helps me to associate other life events with years because I can remember them relative to concerts/albums.

5. Patience

I may have already had patience prior to becoming a fangirl, but the patience in waiting for 14 months to go to a concert or waiting for the first 5SOS album to release was much longer than waiting for summer break or waiting for Christmas. We ordered my 1D concert tickets in April of 2012, and the concert wasn't until June 22, 2013. Those fourteen months required patience and dedication (obviously I had to remain an extremely devoted fan during the entire waiting period), and when the day finally came, and I sat in my terrible seat at the PNC Arena, I fell in love with One Direction all over again (and 5SOS, as this was when I discovered them).

From June 22, 2013, onward, I had to listen to versions of 5 Seconds of Summer's unreleased songs via YouTube. These versions included the crowd's conversations, the screams, the videographer's camera's incapacity to capture really loud sounds, but they were all I had (except for the very few actually recorded songs, which weren't available in the US) until July of 2014. I got to go to Target and grab that CD off the shelf (yes, I'm one of those people who still listens to CD's) and I felt yet another long wait come to an end.

6. Online community

This was one of the biggest things, for me, that came along with being a fangirl. Getting onto Tumblr, Twitter, Instagram--you name it--and finding people just as unabashedly infatuated with the same things that I was, gave me a sense of community, and I felt like there was someone else out there who just got me, you know?

Even if I never actually messaged those people directly or earned a mutual follow, I felt like I had all these friends who understood me. Another thing is, a lot of the online fandom community talks more about themselves and how the fandom/the artist has helped them personally.

There are countless of stories out there about young people overcoming depression with the aid of music (with songs like "Diana" by One Direction, "Amnesia" and "Jet Black Heart" by 5 Seconds of Summer). And I felt like that too, some days. Turning on the music by these people that you loved, whether or not it actually mirrored the way you felt, made it easy to lift your spirits. If the music didn't help you so well, you could go online and talk to your friends, and they'd cheer you up with cute pictures of your "favorite" (member of the group).

7. Free books

Most people have their own opinions about fanfiction already, but I ask that, before you revert to those, you consider what I say next. Fanfiction, in its best form, is a book, written by a fan, about the subject of their fandom. For instance, the Harry Potter fandom has Harry Potter fanfiction. HP fanfic can include (but is not limited to) reimagining the original plotline (ex. Harry falls for Hermione instead), alternate universe (ex. Harry is just a normal kid in America with some really cool friends), or adding in your own character(s) (ex. your character Wendy is now going to be a part of the gang and be BFF's with Hermione).

In terms of the fandoms I've previously stated that I consider myself a part of, if we are talking about 5SOS fanfic, it would most likely be either your own character having a romance with one of the band members, or about some fictitious relationship/situation between the band members (romantic or otherwise).

The most common category or genre that fanfiction falls into is romance. This is where the "ehhhh" part starts to come in. Fanfiction tends to have a stigma surrounding it that it is all "dirty" (i.e. sex scenes on sex scenes on sex scenes). To be completely honest, I didn't even know that was a thing until a good year or two into reading fanfiction and I was like "wait what is this?"

The fanfiction that I read and appreciate matches the type of books that I buy--some cheesy, sappy, young adult romance novels (see Sarah Dessen and John Green for examples). Before fanfiction, in my head, I was already imagining a romance novel involving myself and Harry Styles, but fanfiction had it all written down. There are so many fanfictions out there, and none of them cost money. It's essentially an endless supply of free books that I actually want to read.

8. A platform

If it wasn't obvious with #7, I'm a huge fan of fanfiction. After I began obsessively reading fanfiction, I decided that, as someone who already seriously enjoys writing, I could write my own fanfiction. And I did (do). Writing has always been a passion of mine, and I've always been told that I'm good at it, so when the world of fanfiction was revealed to me, I dove in, head first.

Writing fanfiction has given me a place to practice writing--to develop characters, plot lines, symbolism--and be almost guaranteed an audience. Because there are so many other like-minded people out there, there are so many people always looking for new fanfiction to read. Becoming a popular fanfiction author is much easier than becoming a regular author (on the site that I use, at least). I'm not saying that any of my fanfictions are works of art (far from it, actually), but I'm proud of myself for writing them, and for them to be decent enough to have over 100,000 reads.