Many of your friends have a better life than you. They have more fun and more friends and are making the most out of their time at college. In general, they are happier than you.

Do these thoughts ever go through your mind? If so, then you spend too much time on Facebook.

Part of the college life seems to be spending hours a day on Facebook. Students use Facebook in class, while walking to class, at the Brown-Lupton University Union, in the library and every other place on campus.

Being away from Facebook is like being exiled to Siberia.

It has become part of the college experience, and it is a way to constantly be connected to what is going on with people around you.

TCU is a giant bubble that shelters us from the rest of the world, so sometimes it is a good thing to know what is going on around you, but it also separates you from people.

Think about the hours that people waste on Facebook. Those hours could be spent interacting with people in the real world, which would be so much more meaningful.

Maybe looking at your cyber friends having fun without you can be upsetting. The same people always post hundreds of pictures of their weekends, making it look as though all they do is have fun, while others are the ones always looking through those photos, wondering why they did not have that much fun that weekend.

Maybe you are just the one that has so much studying to do that you cannot go out on weekends. You spend your weekends in the library, glued to your books and computer. Knowing that other people get to have a break from studying on Saturday nights can be upsetting.

But there is no need to fear. I have a solution for all of these problems due to Facebook: log off. It is that simple.

For those who need to study all weekend, this is a crucial piece of advice. You would not have to study every minute of every weekend if you did not check Facebook every hour while studying. You would be able to spare a few hours to spend with friends.

And for those that get sad while looking at your friends’ pictures, the advice is the same. You could be making your own memories if you weren’t busy looking at other peoples’ Facebook.

So I do not believe that Facebook causes depression. If people are depressed by looking at Facebook, then it is a self-caused problem that can easily be fixed. Just leave the computer alone and join the real world for a while. I promise you will not regret it.

Mariah Pulver is a sophomore journalism and political science double major from Tucson, Ariz.