Cycle of Dependency

It's an addiction. The first step is to get hooked. It began for me this summer when my parents finally decided to buy me a cell phone (at fifteen, Charlotte? How on earth did you survive before that?). Then for my birthday in November, I received a MacBook Air from my grandparents, so that it would be easier to "do homework". The temptation to be connected to the social world constantly began to affect my life. I didn't realize how fast I was being sucked into this cycle of dependency, one technology device at a time.
At first, once I became adjusted to having my laptop and cell phone always accessible and in close proximity, I thought, "Oh yeah, I can totally not be dependent on these. I don't want to become one of those Instagram and Twitter crazed girls at my school". But then, low and behold, the manipulative ways of the internet began to take reign of my brain.
I compare my relationship with media to an addiction, because I believe that my first step in this relationship was denial. I would deny to myself that I had no control of my impulses to constantly check my social media, whether it be Facebook or Tumblr, and believe that I was perfectly capable of controlling these impulses. Then this denial slowly gave way to a realization that my addiction to social media and the time I spend immersed within it was affecting my schoolwork and grades, my concentration levels when trying to do homework, and the amount of time I spent doing my favorite hobbies, such as reading, knitting, and making collages.
The third step in this abusive relationship that I found myself in was acceptance. I learned to accept how dependent I had become on social media, and tried to find ways to address this ever expanding problem. I began to (and still am) stow my laptop away in a different part of the house so I wouldn't become distracted during homework. I would turn off my phone and also relocate it outside my room to escape the temptation to turn it back on again to check my messages.
I think the problem that I have found with myself and our generation is that media is too accessible. What we need to be able to adapt to is learning how to balance our real lives with our online/technological ones, and come to realize that we should be prioritizing reality over this technological, deceptive world that is slowly eating away at our society.