Social media can be a great way to stay in touch with friends from far away, to keep updated on the top social trends, and even to show off your photography skills, but these good things sometimes make us blind to the negative aspects of social media.

Let’s face it, every one of us- at some point- has had an unfavorable event occur because of social media. Whether it was seeing your crush with another girl, or being cyberbullied, the effects of this event made us feel terrible, and just to think it could all have been avoided if we weren’t so addicted.

Knowing when and why to stop using social media is hard, but it’s a valuable step into living life to its fullest. So ‘where do I start?’

You start by noticing signs of being addicted. For example, some signs are if you feel anxious when you aren’t checking Instagram every hour, or stalking your best friend’s Twitter feed to see if she’s indirectly complaining about you.

Once you start noticing that you may be addicted, you should start to ease yourself away from it, and the best way to do that is by finding something else to do.

In order to reduce use of social media, find a sport you enjoy, like swimming, or baseball. Or make the decision to start a club like an art club, or a band!

Find something you’re passionate about and invest all your time there.

Now, I’m not saying fill your plate with random things just so that you don’t have time to check your phone…I’m saying spend more time on things you enjoy doing, rather than staring at your Facebook page.

Instead of posting a picture of yourself looking down from the top of a waterfall, take the time to actually look down and see the beauty of the world outside of Instagram and Snapchat. Live your life for yourself, not for your followers.