That 100-day Snapchat streak you just achieved means absolutely nothing. You were able to send a picture to your friend every day for a little over three months — that's SOimpressive. The phone screen that everyone is so attached to also provides a convenient hiding place from reality. This is why social media has completely corrupted the way we communicate, how we present ourselves, and the overall efforts we put into each other. Nowadays, we have it too easy.

If I'm genuinely interested in you, I'm going to want a legitimate conversation with you.

Apps, like Snapchat, fully deny my ability to actually talk to anyone. If you haven't yet been assimilated into the social media world we live in, Snapchat is an application where people contact one another via sending back & forth pictures of themselves while being able to include brief messages. However, it's very common that people will send empty pictures without conversational intent but rather just to "keep the streak." Absurd. This kind of culture is being normalized and is trickling down to our youth. These days, I can't even ask a girl to meet me in-person without sounding like a lunatic. One of the many reasons Snapchat is so poisonous is that it limits how much we can even talk. A 30-minute conversation face-to-face could take days to have, depending on you and your partners' response time. Not only that, but I'll see people in public that I Snapchat who will avoid eye-contact….then proceed to Snapchat me. We're all becoming reluctant to go out of our way for each other, leading to fake relationships and ingenuine friendships.

What's more impressive than a 100-day Snapchat streak? Obviously, 100 likes on your Instagram post. The reason I use "impressive" in this scenario is that the whole point is to flatter your followers. Posting pictures of yourself is the point — yes, I understand — but to what extent are you doing it for the attention?

Social media is meant for you to express yourself, not to be a portrayal of someone you aren't.

I've had real-life experiences where I can't even recognize Instagram girls in person. Not only am I being catfished, but this has a detrimental effect on one's self-identity. Girls want to display this false image while the real one is hidden behind layers of filters and makeup. On top of that, your followers are loving the version of you on the screen instead of the actual human being you are.

Guys are no different. We've grown attached to the external look ladies put on. This is a real bummer because when we go DM diving, more likely than not we're aiming to get their Snapchat. Come on fellas, we can do better. You're telling me you'd rather see a chick's pointless selfies than actually communicate with them? For God's sake, ask them for their phone number. It'll be way more beneficial in the long run and it shows them you're genuinely attentive to more than just their looks.

The growth of technology has greatly reduced the efforts we're willing to put into each other. You take one glance at someone on your phone screen, and you may decide to not even give them a chance. Boom. That's Tinder for ya. Don't let the greatness of your friendships be defined by the number of days you've had a streak, and don't let the number of likes you receive determine your self-worth. There's more to all of us than just what's on screen.

It just takes a little more strength to break that barrier and start establishing authentic connections.