When we reflect on what’s important, a few things that come to mind: friends, family, school, sports. What we don’t always realize though is how we ignore these values while consumed by electronic media. Much of our lives revolve around things like checking Twitter, watching Netflix, and worrying about how many likes we have on that Instagram picture.

According to a study by the Kaiser Family Foundation, the average teenager spends more than 7 ½ hours a day surrounded by all types of media. Even with our friends, it would be a lie to say that much of that time is spent actually having quality conversation and strengthening relationships; instead, we are on either our phones, laptops, TV’s, or sometimes all three.

As our world is becoming more technologically obsessed, the quality of our relationships are becoming less genuine. We have become dependent on our mobile devices as a safety net for avoiding face to face interactions.

Making the effort to really spend time with friends and family is hard in comparison to just logging on to your favorite social media site. But by staying connected with media we are becoming disconnected with the real world around us.

This is the reason that I challenge you to put the time forth to disconnect from social media, turn off the TV, and spend time this winter break working to improve the quality of the relationships you share with your friends and family. Time spent face to face with no screens of any sort will not only strengthen relationships but improve your social skills. Use this time to demonstrate that you care about putting forth the effort to create sincere, concrete relationships.