LAUREN BARTLETT Publication chief & A&E editor

I’ve heard the phrase, “social media was created by the devil,” probably a million times. The older I get, the more I agree with that phrase.

It is so easy to get in the habit of checking your Facebook, Twitter or Snapchat everyday. It almost seems that it’s become a part of the daily routine for most people. However, what most people don’t realize is that it can steal their happiness, without them even realizing it.

Every time I checked my Snapchat, Facebook or Instagram, I found myself getting mad, annoyed or upset at the things I would see. After complaining enough to my friends about what I was seeing, I finally took it upon myself to do something about it.

I decided to delete my Snapchat app. My biggest reasons were because I would see that someone opened my snap and didn’t respond, making me wonder what I had done. Or I would see someone’s story and have my feelings hurt by what I saw.

I can’t lie, after deleting Snapchat, I missed it after the first week. But I knew in the long run I was doing what was right for me.

After deleting the app, I saw an immediate difference in myself. First was that I stopped caring about stupid stuff. I didn’t see what everyone I knew was doing at that exact moment, and I loved it. Following that, I stopped comparing. I didn’t get jealous of what someone else had or was doing, and I didn’t get FOMO or feel the pressure to document what I was doing every second of every day.

Aside from deleting Snapchat, I also hit the unfollow button on a few accounts I used to follow on my Instagram and Facebook.

Sometimes, when you realize that someone has unfollowed you, it can automatically make you think you’ve done something wrong or that someone is mad at you. However, just because someone unfollowed you, does not mean they hate you or that you are in the wrong.

It’s strange to see that people think that this is what defines who likes or hates who.

You would be surprised by the amount of people that thought something had happened to me because I hadn’t opened their snap chats. This reaction alone gave me assurance that I had done the right thing by removing that form of social media from my life. I had become too consumed in it.

So, if you find yourself becoming too consumed or negatively effected by social media, do what I did and take it upon yourself to make the change.

You’ll be surprisingly happy you did.