While our generation was growing up, we were always told we spend too much time in front of the television. Now, we are told that we spend too much time on our phones. Society needs to take a step back and realize that our need for constant entertainment has become pivotal in our daily lives, harming our ability to appreciate things around us.

Snapchat, Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, Tinder, Vine, Clash of Clans, and many more apps on our phones continually hold our attention — so much so that we act as if we have no need for the world around us because we have created a world within the little devices in our hands.

Social interaction has gone from face-to-face transitioning into texting someone when you want to tell her or him something. What happened to the days when we would go up to the house and knock on the door to let someone know you were there to pick her or him up? Now, we just text the person: “I’m here.”

Have we become lazy or are these apps just making our lives easier? Or have we become lazy because they make our lives easier? People use apps to get certain tasks done in a more efficient manner. However, they also spend a good amount of time uselessly staring at the screen building up their base in Clash of Clans or scrolling through various tweets.

A study by Business Insider showed that on average, people spent two hours a day just on apps alone. That’s 730 hours in a year that could have been spent on things such as exercise or meeting new people. For 43,800 minutes, we could have appreciated the world around us that year.

Going to a concert or sporting event has become a heyday for social media as well. We often insist on using our Instagram to show the world that we are at an event instead enjoying the event most of the time. It’s as if we don’t post a picture of Lollapalooza, were we actually there?

I am in no way saying that we need to get rid of apps, because truth be told, I love tweeting and posting on Instagram. I am just saying that cutting down the use of these programs could have a ton of benefits.

So, instead of burying your face in your phone next time you are bored, go outside and look around, talk to someone new, try something you haven’t before. Don’t just get caught up in your Newsfeed for hours. Looking back, will that be a memory that you want when you are old and gray?

No one will say, “I should have spent more time on my phone” on her or his deathbed.