Chika loved her phone. Not just liked it—she lived on it. Messages, videos, games, group chats… it was her whole world. If her phone was not in her hand, it was charging beside her like an emergency lifeline.
At home, her mum always complained.
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“At least greet people before you scroll into another universe,” she would say.
Chika would nod… without looking up.
At school, it was the same. During lessons, she hid her phone inside her textbook. During breaks, she barely spoke to anyone. Even her best friend, Lara, started saying, “You’re here, but you’re not here.”
One Friday morning, something unexpected happened. Chika woke up, and her phone was completely dead. Not low battery. Not glitching. Dead.
She panicked. She tried everything—charging, restarting, shaking it like it would magically wake up. Nothing worked.
Her mum simply said, “Looks like the phone is resting today.”
Chika was forced to go to school without it.
The first few hours felt strange. Like her brain didn’t know what to do with itself. She kept reaching into her bag out of habit, forgetting there was nothing there.
During break time, she sat alone at first. Then she noticed something.
A group of students were laughing loudly under a tree. Not over a phone. Not over a video. Just… talking. Actually talking.
She watched them quietly.
One girl was telling a funny story, using hand gestures like she was performing. Everyone laughed. Another boy was explaining how he had failed a test but turned it into a joke. They weren’t bored. They weren’t rushing. They were present.
Lara waved at her. “Come join us!”
Chika hesitated… then stood up.
At first, she didn’t know what to say. But then she listened. Really listened. And slowly, she spoke too.
She realised something shocking—people were actually interesting when you paid attention.
The next period, the teacher announced a class discussion. Normally, Chika would have stayed silent or distracted. But this time, she raised her hand.
Her voice was shaky at first. Then stronger.
By the end of the day, something had shifted.
When she got home, her phone was still dead. But she didn’t rush to fix it.
Instead, she sat beside her mum and said, “Tell me about your day.”
Her mum blinked, surprised… then smiled.
And for the first time in a long time, Chika didn’t feel like she was missing anything.
Moral: Sometimes we are so busy looking at screens that we forget the real world is still full of stories, people, and moments waiting for us to notice them.
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