Please don’t tag your friends in this.

Your friends are amazing; I mean seriously, they really are the best. From midnight snack runs to cramming for exams, they’ve had your back through it all.

You’re on a study break, naturally perusing Facebook, envying the people who seem to do anything but schoolwork. As you continue to scroll, you notice an article entitled, “An Open Letter To My Best Friend.” Granted, this piece of writing is spot on; #6 even mentioned singing in the car so you know this is the real deal. This thing has gotten over 200K shares; meaning over 200,000 people sing in the car with their best friend - mind blowing really. It’s in this moment that you find yourself leafing through the mental friend file, narrowing it down to who will receive the honor of the “tag.”

I’m here to tell you to stop. Social media has created this “friendship facade” in which relationships are built around the number of pictures uploaded together, or the based on frequency of posts pouring out love for each other. However, it’s through these hypothetical quotas, that shallow friendships surface. True evidence of your time spent together should not be proved through the number of likes on a candid photo of yourselves laughing while drinking coffee. Our culture has made the constant proof of relationships via various social media platforms a normality. To this, let’s instead really laugh together, sing as loud as you want in the car, and take one million photos of yourselves being outrageous. Though, don’t for one second feel the need to “beef up” one’s social media presence for the sake of society. Your friendship doesn’t need another “open letter,” your friendship needs you to be present.