Our generation lives in an era dominated by social media. This fact is nothing new. Every accomplishment has to be tweeted about. Every sentimental event has to be captured on Snapchat. Every video that further proves that dogs hope that the world is not completely evil has to be shared on Facebook. I am not here to denounce our generation's greater emphasis on portraying a certain image of ourselves as opposed to living in the moment because to be quite frank with you, I am guilty of everything I have mentioned. I don't think it's a crime to tweet an opinion or to post a picture of a family dinner. I don't think it's a crime to share memes that describe your life to a T. Our parents lived in the era of "Happy Days" and Cabbage Patch dolls. And now, our happy days have to be immortalized in filtered Instagram pictures.

However, just like everything, they must be enjoyed in moderation. With the evolution of smartphones, we have easy access to constant affirmation through likes and shares and comments. We scroll through Facebook for hours and once we've come across a status that we know all too well, we go back to the page and refresh, just in case someone has shared something new. We envy the lives of people we hardly know just because they portray only the glamorous aspects of their lives and then compare their highlight reels to our backstage events. The scary thing about all of this, though, is we do without giving it so much as a second thought.

Let me ask you something. What is the first thing you do when you wake up in the morning? This isn't a rhetorical question. I'm challenging you to really ponder on this. Before you roll out of bed before you begin your daily activities, what is the first thing you do?

I didn't realize how much social media had dominated my life until one morning this summer. I am as much of a morning person as politicians are truthful. On this particular morning, though, I had set my alarm for 7 a.m in an attempt to get a head start on my morning and accomplish every single task on my to-do list. Miraculously enough, I woke up at 7 and yet, I did not get out of bed until 9. How? How is that even possible? All I had done was scroll through Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, and every other social media outlet that had ever been created and then again.

It was at this moment in time that I decided enough was enough. I had wasted two hours of my morning for what? It's not as though the world had stopped spinning during my temporary hibernation and it certainly was not going to stop just so I could catch up with all of the events of the night prior. I came to realize that this awful habit had come to consume most of my mornings and I was not okay with it.

The minute I had this revelation, I deleted every single social media app from my phone. I made the conscious decision to put meaning back into my mornings and to take back the time social media was stealing from me. Sure, I still have access to these outlets through my computer, but since deleting these apps from my phone, there's a new sense of freedom and productivity in my life that I've really come to enjoy.

When I open my eyes in the morning, I am forced to reflect and appreciate all of the blessings in my life. I thank God for giving me another day because life is too short and each day is not a promised luxury. And as little as these actions may seem, this small decision has completely transformed my mornings. It has helped to set a more positive tone to my days because I wake up, feeling blessed, knowing I am blessed, and appreciating the fact that I am blessed. I wake up, eager to check things off my to-do list and conquer the day. Without these apps on my phone, I can truly enjoy quality time and provide my full attention to the people in front of me. I am not mindlessly scrolling through Facebook the minute I feel trapped in the outside world. I am recognizing the natural beauty of life that I had missed before because my eyes were glued to someone's snapchat of a sunset. I am experiencing my own sunrises and my own sunsets. I am living more and lurking less.