Chapter 1: The day it was lost
The day started like any other one.
Ben came home from school and threw his bag across the room.
"Whew…
Finally… some peace and quiet."
Then, he got his phone, and started to dive deep into social media.
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He lived with a single mentality:
"School is just a place we go to and learn stuff we're never going to use in life."
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He senses his parents nearby.
His parents approach him, asking:
"Hey, Ben! How was school today?
He doesn't even lift his eyes.
They were glued to the screen.
The endless dopamine scrolls did not let out a clear point for stopping.
The mom was worried.
"Ben?"
Ben kept staring at his phone, without a single care in the world.
The dad got angry.
"Ben…"
Ben still kept scrolling on his socials, without batting an eye on his parents.
The mom couldn't take it anymore.
She grabbed it from his hands.
"What the heck, mom?!" -Ben yelled.
The mom sighed, then said:
"You know that kids aren't meant to use this, right?"
Trembling, he said:
"But mom… all of the kids in my class use it…"
The mom said:
"But you're Ben.
Not James.
Not Robby.
Ben."
And as for a closing line:
"I'm doing this for the best of you, Ben.
I love you."
And she left him alone… with the phone as well.
"She says all that fluff, and she still doesn't take my phone.
What a fool she is.
He got back to scrolling.
But didn't know there were underlying problems, waiting to show.