I wake up in the morning and go on Instagram. I walk through halls between classes and go on Instagram. I go to lunch and go on Instagram. I get home from school and go on Instagram. I go to bed– but first, I go on Instagram.

Since I first downloaded this app, Instagram has dominated my life. I have spent hours constantly checking to see how many likes my latest photo has gotten, or scrolling through to see what kind of lives other people are living. I’ve been envious of other people’s social media status, and what wonderful lives people seem to have. It’s time to turn the screen off and wake up.

We all seem to live in a fantasy where life on the internet perfectly real life, which couldn’t be further from the truth. For most people, they don’t just snap and post a photo of a happy moment or event just because it made them happy. They post the photo because they look nice in it. Because it’s the best of 50 other photos taken just for their social media feed. Because it will make them look good to people doing the exact same thing.

I’m as guilty of this as anyone. Most of the photos on my page aren’t just “by chance” or “candid” photos; they were taken specifically for social media.

When I look at some of my photos, I feel guilty. I feel that I should’ve spent more time actually enjoying the event than worrying about getting the perfect photo for people who don’t even care (or at least, really shouldn’t).

Our confusion between social media life and real life causes us to miss out on what really matters. The posed and edited photos that are seen when scrolling through social media do not by any means reflect what life really is. We only show the good moments, the moments where we’re smiling, laughing and looking our best. For this, we become jealous of something that doesn’t even really exist.

Social media has affected my self-confidence, and trying to take some time off of it has really helped. I’ve tried putting my photo someone not close so I won’t be distracted from life. Social media isn’t bad in every sense; I enjoy seeing funny photos from meme accounts and commenting sweet things on my friends’ posts. The important thing is to realize the selective nature of Instagram posts, and that social media lives are much different actual ones. We need to stop wasting our lives chasing a false reality.