I know you’ve got a dirty little secret.

You do it all the time.

When you wake up. Before you go to sleep. During class. While you’re studying.

It’s starting to affect your grades, yet you can’t bring yourself to stop.

I’m here to tell you that you are not alone.

There are plenty of us who can help you. Because — let’s be honest — we’ve all been addicted to Facebook at one time or another.

But, be careful to not let it dictate your behavior. Social media is a device meant to revolve around your social life, not the other way around.

Facebook addiction is not just a myth.

In April 2012, a report published in the journal Psychological Reports created a scale for measuring Facebook addiction.

The measure, referred to as the Bergen Facebook Addiction Scale, is based on the six core elements of addiction: salience, mood modification, tolerance, withdrawal, conflict and relapse.

“People who are anxious and socially insecure use Facebook more than those with lower scores on those traits, probably because those who are anxious find it easier to communicate via social media than face-to-face,” Dr. Cecilie Andreassen, leader of Facebook addiction research at University of Bergen in Norway, to Medical News Today.

Even those who are not technically addicted to social media websites like Facebook tend to dedicate time out of their day to check their news feed.

In his report “Mobile Marketing Statistics 2013 — Smart Insights,” Danyl Bosomworth claimed that a trend is beginning to develop, in which people are beginning to access Internet on their phone more often than on the computer.

Bosomworth claims that by 2014, mobile Internet users will surpass desktop Internet users.

He also said that the average American spends about 2.7 hours socializing on their mobile phones.

“That’s over twice the time they spend eating and one-third of the time they spend sleeping each day,” said Bosomworth in his interactive report.

Smartphones are taking over the world.

Of the 4 billion in use, over 1 billion mobile phones are smartphones.

Just last Friday, April 12, AT&T released the HTC First, otherwise known as the Facebook Phone.

The phone’s most noteworthy feature is its home screen, which is dedicated to showing Facebook — and only Facebook.

Its first attempt at a phone, the First embodies Facebook’s vision for mobile devices and could be the first in a long line of smartphones to do so.

As we begin relying on technology like the smartphone more and more, let us not forget about our fellow man.

Go out and hang out with your friends. Don’t just talk to them on Facebook.

If you’re at a social event then socialize. Don’t take pictures of yourselves socializing the whole time.

Don’t worry about what your friends are doing at all times.

Live your own life. It was given to you for a reason.

In the wise words of Einstein, “I fear the day when the technology overlaps with our humanity. The world will only have a generation of idiots.”